BUILDING WONDERS  8

THINK AND DISCUSS

1. Answers will vary. Possible answers: The Empire State Building, Notre Dame, the Alhambra, the Parthenon, the Great Wall of China. They are special because of their place in history and their grandeur.

2. Answers will vary.

EXPLORE THE THEME

A 1. Answers will vary. Possible answers: to commemorate a person or an event, to symbolize power and wealth, to attract visitors, to display

technical progress

2. Answers will vary. Possible answer: I’d love to see Mount Rushmore because I really admire the presidents who are featured there.

B religious; symbol; structure

Reading 1

PREPARING TO READ

A 1. Sculpture

2. committed to

3. inspiration (Note: The verb is inspire.)

4. theme

5. architect (Note: The person is an architect; the field is architecture.)

6. illustrate (Note: Illustrate often refers to drawings, but it can also refer to speech or writing.)

7. style

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. Frank Lloyd Wright; Falling Water

2. It’s a brick school building. It is modern.

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

The sky: rooms with glass ceilings

Animals: animal sculpted into the columns

Water: The windows have stained glass that looks like waterfalls.

Plants: The walls are painted to look like a jungle.

UNDERSTANDING THE READING

A 1. c; 2. a; 3. d; 4. e; 5. b

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Pillars—trees

Sculptures and carvings—turtles, tortoises, reptiles, birds, and other wildlife

Stairways—spiral style similar to plants/animals such as snails

Windows—shapes found in nature such as algae

Wall decorations—shapes of vines

Tower tops—crystals, grains, and grasses

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. Gaudí believed that the best ideas and inspiration for architecture could be found in the natural world.

2. When something goes out of fashion, it is no longer popular. But nature will never go out of fashion because it is all around us. We need it to survive, so people will always be interested in it.

3. God

D Answers will vary. Possible answer: I like the design of La Sagrada Família because I love nature. Also, the building is very unique. I’ve never seen anything else like it!

DEVELOPING READING SKILLS

A 1. c; 2. b; 3. d; 4. a

B Underlined words: 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers); around A.D. 800; Polynesian islands; 13 feet (4 meters) tall

C 1. 1926 (Paragraph E)

2. Mark Burry (Paragraph E)

3. 2026 (Paragraph G)

Video

BEFORE VIEWING

A 1. buy jewelry and souvenirs

2. Answers will vary. Possible answer: because the history and works of art can be seen all around the city (e.g., the architecture, streets, and

gardens), not only inside the museums

B 1. irregular (Note: Curved means rounded or bending.)

2. brick

3. semicircle

4. cement

WHILE VIEWING

A 1, 3, 4, 6

B 1. inner

2. outer

3. wood

4. lift

5. vertical

6. ropes

AFTER VIEWING

A Answers will vary. Possible answer: This might have helped him “think outside the box. “For example, his idea of an inner and outer

shell probably came from his experience as a clockmaker. A formally trained architect may not have been as creative as he was in coming up

with a solution.

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Brunelleschi’s dome is in Italy, and La Sagrada Família is in Spain.

La Sagrada Família is taking longer to build than Brunelleschi’s dome.

Brunelleschi’s dome is older than La Sagrada Família.

Both structures have a religious purpose (i.e., to honor God).

Reading 2

PREPARING TO READ

A 1. b; 2. a; 3. a; 4. b; 5. a; 6. b; 7. b; 8. a

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. container ships; trains; trucks

2. I’ve been to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It’s one of the most stunning places I’ve visited.

3. An architect needs to be organized, and have good communication and visualization skills.

C Answers will vary. Possible answers: thousands of years old; temples for people to worship in

UNDERSTANDING THE READING

A b

B 2, 3, 6

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Chichén Itzá

Purpose(s): a religious site, a place to make sacrifices to a god; a place to view Venus and other planets

Evidence: Spanish records; bones, jewelry, and other objects that people wore when they were sacrificed have been found.

Göbekli Tepe

Purpose(s): a holy meeting place; a feasting site

Evidence: The T-shaped pillars could represent human beings in a religious ceremony; animal bones and large containers for liquid have been found; smaller pillars similar to Göbekli Tepe’s have been found farther away.

D Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. The language when the writer talks about Chichén Itzá is very certain: “Chichén Itzá was both,” “records show,” and “experts know.”

With Göbekli Tepe, the writer is less certain:

“archaeologists are still debating,” “new evidence suggests,” and “it’s as though.”

2. I find the argument for Chichén Itzá more convincing because of the language used by the writer. Since Göbekli Tepe is much older, there is

less evidence showing what happened there.

E Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Pros: By visiting and studying these ancient sites, we can learn more about our past.

Cons: Too many tourists can damage a site physically, or make a special place feel overcrowded.

Writing

EXPLORING WRITTEN ENGLISH

A 1. older than

2. not as old as

3. less expensive than

LANGUAGE FOR WRITING

B 1. taller than

2. as tall as

3. more traditional than

4. not as long as

5. higher than

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. Los Angeles isn’t as compact as Boston.

2. The climate in Riyadh is hotter than the climate in Reykjavik.

3. Tokyo is more expensive to live in than Mexico City.

WRITING SKILL

D Answers will vary. Possible answers:

The Grant library: built in 1890, classical style with marble columns like a Greek temple, open 24 hours a day

Intersecting area: used for student research, part of a college campus, both have books available for students to use, both are libraries

The Barrett library: modern design, built in early 20th century, craftsman style, made of wood, library and museum, open 7 hours a day

E 1. style and purpose

2. and 3. The Grant Library and the Barrett Library are both important resources for student research at my university, but there are some differences between the two structures. First, the buildings have very different styles. The Grant Library, built in 1890, is older than the Barrett Library and was built in the classical style. For example, there are tall marble columns at the entrance, which make the library look like a Greek temple. The Barrett Library, on the other hand, has a more modern design. It was built in the early 20th century in the craftsman style and is made entirely of wood. The purposes of the two libraries are also different. The Barrett Library also functions as a museum, so it’s open only seven hours a day. The Grant Library, however, is open 24 hours a day, so students can do research or study there for a longer time. The two buildings have different styles and purposes, but both are

excellent examples of the variety of architectural styles at my university.

WRITING TASK

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Golden Gate Bridge: 1.7 miles long; opened in 1937

Both: amazing engineering; similar design; steel suspension bridges; tall towers

Brooklyn Bridge: 5,989 feet long; opened in 1883

Point 1: design

Point 2: length

Point 3: date of completion

Topic Sentence: The Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge are both examples of amazing engineering.

REVISING PRACTICE

a, d, b, a, c

EDITING PRACTICE

1. The Seville Cathedral is smaller than St. Peter’s Basilica.

2. In my opinion, La Sagrada Família is more attractive than St. Mary’s Cathedral.

3. The Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia is not as ancient as the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia.

4. Göbekli Tepe is older than the Parthenon in Greece.

5. The Tokyo Skytree is not as tall as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which has a height of almost 2,723 feet (830 meters).

6. The construction of the Barrett Library was less expensive than the construction of the Morrison Library.

7. The Brooklyn Bridge is not as long as the Golden Gate Bridge.