15篇文章貫通六級(jí)詞匯MP3（字幕版）Unit12-Part1

<p>[00:00.00]UNIT12<br /> [00:13.55]The American Dream<br /> [00:15.84]The dream to construct a building <br /> [00:19.89]to house everyone and everything <br /> [00:21.97]connected with world trade <br /> [00:23.94]began in the early 1960's. <br /> [00:27.34]After much deliberation， <br /> [00:29.41]Minoru Yamasaki was commissioned <br /> [00:33.13]over more than a dozen other architects <br /> [00:35.98]to work with the firm of Emery Roth <br /> [00:39.04]and Sons to design this massive edifice.<br /> [00:42.11]His task was evident: <br /> [00:45.05]the building must have <br /> [00:46.92]twelve million square feet of floor space <br /> [00:49.98]on a sixteen acre parcel of land, <br /> [00:52.93]accommodate the new facilities <br /> [00:55.12]for the Hudson tubes and subway connections, <br /> [00:57.97]and be done within the 500 million dollar budget. <br /> [01:02.12]The relatively small site <br /> [01:04.86]combined with the vast space <br /> [01:07.05]needs meant that <br /> [01:08.36]the only way to go was up. <br /> [01:10.44]The development would dwarf its neighbors <br /> [01:14.16]and change the New York landscape <br /> [01:16.13]and skyline at the bottom of Manhattan.<br /> [01:19.52]In order to accommodate <br /> [01:23.13]the nine million square feet of office space, <br /> [01:26.09]Yamasaki made the decision <br /> [01:28.16]that a twotower development would be best. <br /> [01:31.33]This would serve the dual purpose <br /> [01:34.18]of giving sufficient office area <br /> [01:36.81]on each floor and allowing a manageable structural system <br /> [01:40.74]while taking advantage of the superb views. <br /> [01:43.92]The twin towers would be 110 floors each, <br /> [01:48.73]rising to a height of 1,353 feet (412 meters).<br /> [01:56.06]From the observation decks <br /> [01:59.23]at the tops of the towers <br /> [02:00.76]it would be possible to see 45 miles <br /> [02:03.94]in every direction.<br /> [02:05.69]When asked why he designed two 110-storey buildings <br /> [02:11.49]instead of one 220-storey building,<br /> [02:15.21]he replied, flippantly, “<br /> [02:17.28]I didnt want to lose the human touch.”<br /> [02:20.35]The first act in the construction process <br /> [02:25.05]was the excavation. <br /> [02:26.48]The 1.2 million cubic yards of earth <br /> [02:30.63]and rock that were removed <br /> [02:32.49]were used to create 23 acres of fill <br /> [02:35.55]in the Hudson River adjacent to the W.T.C. site. <br /> [02:40.37]This landfill project was subsequently developed <br /> [02:45.29]as Battery Park. The excavation, <br /> [02:48.79]besides providing the foundation <br /> [02:50.98]for this enormous construction, <br /> [02:52.95]would house parking garages, <br /> [02:55.14]subway terminals and tubes,<br /> [02:57.54]and shopping concourses.<br /> [02:59.08]Yamasaki believed that <br /> [03:02.91]all buildings must be strong <br /> [03:04.66]in the context of being dominant. <br /> [03:07.17]He felt that each building should <br /> [03:10.24]“be a monument to the virility of our society”. <br /> [03:14.07]The structural system,<br /> [03:17.24]while possessing this strength, <br /> [03:19.31]is also impressively simple. <br /> [03:21.94]The 208-foot front wall <br /> [03:25.34]is essentially a pre-assembled steel web, <br /> [03:28.61]with columns on 39inch centers,  <br /> [03:31.68]providing the wind bracing necessary <br /> [03:34.41]for a building of this height,<br /> [03:35.94]allowing the central core <br /> [03:38.35]to take only the gravity loads. <br /> [03:40.65]This very light, <br /> [03:42.84]economical configuration would result in <br /> [03:46.01]keeping the wind bracing <br /> [03:47.54]in the most efficient place, <br /> [03:49.18]the outside shell of the building.<br /> [03:51.70]In this way, the wind force<br /> [03:54.87]would not be transferred <br /> [03:56.62]through the floor membrane to the core. <br /> [03:58.92]Thirtythree inch deep floors <br /> [04:02.31]made of prefabricated steel trusses <br /> [04:05.49]would act as supports to stiffen the outside walls<br /> [04:09.09]against the buckling forces <br /> [04:10.95]of the windload pressures. <br /> [04:13.36]There would be no interior columns <br /> [04:16.76]in the office spaces, <br /> [04:18.29]an amazing feat <br /> [04:19.92]as there would be 40 000 square feet <br /> [04:23.21]of office space on each of the upper floors.<br /> [04:26.17]In total, there would be seven buildings <br /> [04:30.87]in the complex; <br /> [04:36.34]the twin towers standing 110 stories high , <br /> [04:36.08]four smaller towers, <br /> [04:38.27]and a central plaza.<br /> [04:39.70]Also, there would be seven underground levels <br /> [04:44.18]containing services, <br /> [04:45.38]shopping, parking garages and a subway station. <br /> [04:49.43]When completed, there would be <br /> [04:52.38]ten million square feet of leasable space, <br /> [04:55.88]or an acre of rentable space <br /> [04:58.51]on each floor of each tower.<br /> [05:00.70]The elevator system was intended to be fast,<br /> [05:05.26]efficient,and space saving. <br /> [05:07.67]Express elevators opening onto the forty-first <br /> [05:11.61]and seventy-fourth floors <br /> [05:14.24]would serve the sky lobbies. <br /> [05:16.31]From these floors and from the plaza, <br /> [05:19.70]four banks of elevators would <br /> [05:22.22]carry passengers to each of the three zones.<br /> [05:25.06]Tenders posted, contractors hired, <br /> [05:29.23]and the preliminary materials purchased,<br /> [05:31.85]the groundbreaking ceremony <br /> [05:33.82]was held on August 5, 1966. <br /> [05:38.85]Some offices were ready for occupancy <br /> [05:42.24]in 1970 but the ribbon cutting ceremony <br /> [05:45.96]wasn't held until April 4, 1973. <br /> [05:50.01]Final cost 750 million dollars.<br /> [05:54.82]The institution of the W.T.C. <br /> [05:59.20]would become a symbol of commerce <br /> [06:01.48]and economic superiority to the world. <br /> [06:04.65]International businesses recognized <br /> [06:08.48]that it would be advantageous <br /> [06:10.34]to have offices there. <br /> [06:11.87]Thus, the working population of the W.T.C. <br /> [06:16.14]would incorporate a cross-section of nationalities, <br /> [06:19.64]not just Americans.<br /> [06:21.39]The buildings would be occupied <br /> [06:24.56]by as many as <br /> [06:28.72]fifty thousand people daily during the week. <br /> [06:29.34]Additionally,thousands of tourists <br /> [06:32.18]could be in the center at any given time, <br /> [06:34.81]visiting the restaurant, <br /> [06:36.34]Windows on the World, <br /> [06:38.20]atop One W.T.C., <br /> [06:40.83]the indoor and outdoor observation decks <br /> [06:44.00]on Two W.T.C., as well as the shops, <br /> [06:47.17]exhibition pavilions, <br /> [06:49.25]and the 250 room hotel.<br /> [06:52.21]A complex of this size <br /> [06:55.16]is not without some problems, <br /> [06:57.35]including fire. Numerous small fires <br /> [07:00.96]and one major one on February 13, 1975 <br /> [07:06.03]occurred over the years. <br /> [07:07.67]However, on February 26, 1993, <br /> [07:12.81]a terrorist attack on the W.T.C. <br /> [07:15.77]caused the largest incident ever handled <br /> [07:18.50]by the City of New York's Fire Department. <br /> [07:21.57]The blaze, resulting from <br /> [07:24.52]the ignition of a nitrourea bomb,<br /> [07:27.26]with hydrogen cylinders to add impact,<br /> [07:30.10]and located in the parking garage,<br /> [07:32.83]required the response of 84 engine companies, <br /> [07:36.45]60 truck companies, <br /> [07:38.49]and hundreds of personnel. <br /> [07:41.01]Firefighters maintained a presence <br /> [07:43.31]at the site for 28 days, <br /> [07:46.15]guarding against the possibility <br /> [07:48.67]of further fires caused by the blast. <br /> [07:51.95]Six people died and 1042 were injured. <br /> [07:56.87]The towers survived.<br /> [07:58.83]After this violent incident failed <br /> [08:02.77]in its intended purpose of destroying the W.T.C., <br /> [08:06.60]who could have envisaged an assault <br /> [08:09.23]as disastrous as the one inflicted on it <br /> [08:12.40]and the United States on September 11, 2001? <br /> [08:16.77]Who could have conceived an attack <br /> [08:19.62]so vicious it would eclipse <br /> [08:21.92]almost every manmade catastrophe? <br /> [08:24.76]Who could have foreseen that <br /> [08:27.17]the American dream would <br /> [08:28.88]blur into a terrible nightmare?<br /> [08:31.40]At 8∶45 a.m. New York local time, <br /> [08:36.32]a hijacked 767 commercial airliner <br /> [08:40.04]with a full load of jet fuel <br /> [08:42.23]for a transcontinentalflight collided with One W.T.C., <br /> [08:46.60]The north tower, <br /> [08:48.24]with enough impetus to carry it <br /> [08:50.54]through to the opposite side. <br /> [08:52.52]Initially, terrorism was not a consideration <br /> [08:56.67]in the mind of the public. <br /> [08:58.09]This was merely a dreadful accident.</p>

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