The Tallest Building in the World
Many countries are building taller and taller buildings, since everyone wants their country to have the tallest one of all. So, things are always changing, but right now, the tallest building in the world is in a small country in the Middle-East, called Dubai – and the building is called ‘Khalifa Tower’ [See the picture above]. This building is 830 metres high. That’s almost one kilometre, straight up!
So, why did they construct this building? Dubai has a lot of oil, and this has given the country a lot of money to spend, but this oil will run out one day, so the government wants to generate revenue from other places, such as from business and tourists. One way to make businesses and people come to the country is to have a world-famous building – and being the tallest building in the world is a good start. However, the building cost a staggering $80 billion to construct – so it was certainly an expensive decision to make.
The tower was constructed by Samsung, a Korean Company, and there were many special problems involved. For a start, the temperature is very high (up to 50°C in the summer) and this causes problems due to the expansion of the metal material. Some of it had to be put together at night, when it was cooler, and special fans were used to blow away the dust and sand in the air. Here is another interesting thing: the building is so big, with so many glass windows, that it takes 40 people four months just to clean them all.
Question Time
Where is the tallest building in the world? ………………………………………………
How high is it, and how much did it cost? ………………………..……….………..…..
Why did this country decide to build this building? …………………………………….
Which company built this building? ……………………..……………………………….
Why did they do some of the work at night? ……………………….……………………
Word-Learning Time
Do you know the meaning of the underlined words?
To construct
Oil
Revenue
To be staggering
Expansion [to expand]
By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .
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