首页
登录
职称英语
Perhaps it’s the weather, which sometimes seals London with a gray ceiling for w
Perhaps it’s the weather, which sometimes seals London with a gray ceiling for w
游客
2023-12-14
18
管理
问题
Perhaps it’s the weather, which sometimes seals London with a gray ceiling for weeks on end. Or maybe it is Britons’ penchant for understatement, their romantic association with the countryside or their love of gardens. Whatever the reason, while other cities grew upward as they developed, London spread outward, keeping its vast parks, its rows of townhouses and its horizon lines intact.
But as the city’s population and its prominence as a global business capital continue to grow, it sometimes seems ready to burst at the seams. In response, developers are turning to a type of building that used to be deeply unfashionable here, even as it flourished in other capitals of commerce: the skyscraper.
In recent years, a cluster of sizable office towers have sprouted on the periphery of London, in its redeveloped Docklands at Canary wharf. But skyscrapers now are pushing into the heart of the City, London’s central financial district, and surrounding areas along the Thames.
The mayor, Ken Livingstone, champions tall buildings as part of his controversial plans to remake central London as a denser, more urban sort of place, with greater reliance on public transport. First he angered some drivers by charging them a toll to enter the city center on workdays, now he finds himself opposed by preservation groups, including English Heritage, that want to keep London’s character as a low-rise city.
For now, the mayor seems to be getting his way. One prominent tower, a 40-story building designed by Norman Foster for the Swiss Re insurance company was completed this year. A handful of others have received planning permission and at least a dozen more have been proposed.
By far the most prominent of these buildings—and one that finally looks like it will go ahead after a drawn-out approval process—is the London Bridge Tower, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. The developer Irvine Sellar won government approval for the building late last year and says he is completing the financing and hopes to start work by early 2005.
The 306-meter, or 1,016-foot, tower would be by far the tallest building in Britain, in all of Europe, in fact, surpassing the 264-meter Triumph Palace in Moscow, a residential building that was finished late last year.
To be sure, even the London Bridge Tower would be modest by the standards of American or Asian skyscrapers, or some of the behemoths on the ’drawing boards for places like Dubai and Shanghai. The tallest building in the world at the moment is the 509-meter Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. But it will surely be surpassed soon amid a boom in construction that persists.
In a city that has been reluctant to reach for the sky, perhaps it is appropriate that Piano is the architect for what probably will he London’s tallest building. He is ambivalent about skyscrapers, too, and has designed only a handful alongside such projects as the Pompidou Center in Paris, with Richard Rogers, and parts of the reconstructed Potsdamer Platz In Berlin.
English Heritage has been far less enthusiastic, arguing that the building would obstruct views of a high-rise from a much earlier era, Christopher Wren’s St. Patti’s Cathedral. To overcome opposition, the building was designed with a mixed-use function. Much of the bottom half of the building will house offices, but above that there will be a "public piazza" with restaurants, exhibition spaces and other entertainment areas. Further above, the loftier, narrower floors will be taken up by a hotel and apartments. On the 65th floor there will be a viewing gallery. The upper 60 meters, exposed to the elements, will house an energy-saving cooling system in which pipes will be used to pump excess heat up from the offices below and dissipate it into the winds. "We knew we had no chance of getting it approved unless we had a high-quality design from a top international name," Sellar said.
The emphasis on quality is a reflection not only of an aversion to skyscrapers, but also of a desire not to repeat mistakes. London had one previous fling with tall—or semi-tall—buildings, in the 1960s and ’70s, but their blocky, concrete shapes did little to impress. [br] The last paragraph implies that
选项
A、people’s preference for skyscrapers is increasing rapidly.
B、people made mistakes in constructing tall buildings in the past.
C、tall buildings in the 1960s and 1970s were welcomed by Londoners.
D、tall buildings in the 1960s and 1970s left people deep impression.
答案
B
解析
最后一段提到对质量的强调反映了对高楼建筑设计的排斥,表明了不再重复错误的强烈愿望,由此推断出选项A与之不符,B为正确选项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3272217.html
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingisCORRECT?A、Contentwordsofalanguagearesometimesca
Slavelaborwaswidespreadinthesouthbecause______.A、thecoldweatherinthe
______,thefirstnovelbyJackLondon,waspublishedin1902.A、ADaughterofth
Eveniftheyproducednootherpositiveresult,theattacksontheLondonUn
Eveniftheyproducednootherpositiveresult,theattacksontheLondonUn
Eveniftheyproducednootherpositiveresult,theattacksontheLondonUn
Eveniftheyproducednootherpositiveresult,theattacksontheLondonUn
Aftertakingabriefhiatustoweathertherecession,aninvasionofBritain
Aftertakingabriefhiatustoweathertherecession,aninvasionofBritain
______takesLondonasthesettinginmostofhisnovels,A、DickensB、HardyC、Thac
随机试题
[originaltext]W:We’veallheardthesaying“Laughteristhebestmedicine.”Ho
Manistheonlyanimalthatlaughs.Whatisthehistoryofthis"happylaugh
WhyMinorityStudentsDon’tGraduatefromCollege[A]BarryMills,thep
A.A B.B C.C D.D
李某在某软件公司兼职,为完成该公司交给的工作,做出了一项涉及计算机程序的发明。李
测定外加剂的抗压强度比时,必须测定基准混凝土和外加剂混凝土同龄期的抗压强度。()
小建中汤中桂枝与芍药的用量比例为A1:4 B1:1 C2:1 D1:2
某市统计局在针对噪音扰民的一次调查中,当问及受访市民对哪一类噪音反感时,选择社区
施工质量检验中的“三检制”内容不包括()。A.抽检 B.自检 C.互检
男,58岁。外出途中突然头痛、眩晕,伴呕吐、走路不稳前来急诊。查体:BP180
最新回复
(
0
)