2024年4月1日发(作者：)

阅读理解（四）

A

Most buildings are built to stand up straight, but these look as if they might

fall over!

The church tower of Suurhusen

Built in 1450, the 27­metre­high church tower lies in Suurhusen, Germany. It

was built in wet land on foundations of oak tree trunks (树干). When the land was

drained (排水) later, the wood broke down, causing one side of the tower to be a

little lower than the other. In 1975, the tower became a real hazard and people

were not allowed to enter until the foundations were made strong again. The lean

(倾斜) of the tower is now about five degrees.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The work of building the tower began in 1173, and was finally completed in

1372. In fact, it began to lean after just a couple of floors were built. And this

condition continued in the centuries after its completion. The tower was finally

closed to the public in 1990 after people failed to stabilize (使稳固) its foundations.

In 2001, it was reopened after engineers removed soil from underneath its raised

side. Now it leans just an angle of 3.97 degrees.

Capital Gate of Abu Dhabi

Completed in 2011, the Capital Gate tower in Abu Dhabi was designed to lean

eighteen degrees. The building stands next to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition

Centre and contains, among other things, a fine hotel with wonderful views of the

harbour. Also known as the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi, the tower is one of the

tallest buildings in the city.

Big Ben of London

The building leans 0.26 degrees to the northwest. This was mainly caused by

the engineering projects (项目) that have been carried out in the ground below it

since the late 1800s. The tower, which has been continuously open since it was

completed in 1858, has nowhere near the lean of the Tower of Pisa and is still

completely safe to enter.

语篇解读：本文是一篇应用文。文章主要介绍了四座闻名世界的斜塔。

1．The underlined word “hazard” in Paragraph 2 probably means

“________”．

A．danger B．church

C．castle D．treasure