In 1172, Donna Berta di Bernardo donated sixty silver coins to the local cathedral for the purchase of stones to be used in the base of a new bell tower.

The next year, construction on the tower began and almost immediately there were problems. The tower site sat on soft ground composed mostly of clay, fine sand, and shells (the city sits between the Arno and the Serchio rivers). By the time the builders finished the second floor in 1178, the tower was beginning to lean.

Soon, construction was halted for almost 100 years, as Pisa fought wars against Genoa, Lucca and Florence. This may have been a lucky break, as modern analysis says that the tower definitely would have toppled had construction continued without time for the soil to settle.

When work on the tower started again, it was leaning 0.2 degrees north of vertical, but by the time the workers started on the seventh floor, the tower was tilting one degree south. Around this time, construction stopped again for unknown reasons.

DON'T LEAN ON ME

Over the next century, construction continued intermittently.

The tower’s lean gained another 1.6 degrees. To counteract the lean, the builders made the remaining floors taller on the south side of the tower. But the weight of the additional floors only made the foundation sink further, making the lean worse. Having done what they could, the builders finished up and officially completed the tower around 1370.

Since the tower’s completion, engineers and architects from all over the world have monitored the lean and tried to correct it. These attempts have involved adding grout to the foundation masonry, wrapping plastic-coated steel pieces around the tower up to the second floor, pouring a concrete ring around the base of the tower, laying lead counterweights to the north side, installing anchored cable counterweights, and extracting soil from underneath the north side.

After the removal of more than 70 metric tons of soil in 2008, engineers announced that the Tower had been stabilized enough that it had stopped moving for the first time since construction began. Its lean is now only about 4 degrees (prior to the all the restoration attempts, the lean was 5.5 degrees), or about 13 feet past perfectly vertical. The Leaning Tower of Pisa should be stable for at least the next 200 years.

Comprehension

1.      What is the main idea of the passage?

A.      Why the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans

B.      The Builders of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

C.      How to correct the Leaning Tower of Pisa

D.      The Construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

2.      How long does it take to build the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

A.      195 years

B.      196 years

C.      197 years

D.      198 years

3.      Which of the following words is similar in meaning to “donate” (Line one)

A.     contribute

B.     accept

C.     give in

D.     spend

Background information

比萨斜塔位于意大利中部比萨古城内的教堂广场上，是一组古罗马建筑群中的钟楼，这座堪称世界建筑史奇迹的斜塔，不仅以它“斜而不倒”闻名天下，还因为1590年，意大利的伟大科学家伽俐略，曾在斜塔的顶层做过自由落体运动的实验，让两个重量相差10倍的铁球，同时从塔顶落下，结果，两球同时着地，一举推翻了束缚人们思想近2000年的希腊著名学者亚里士多德关于重量不同的物体其下落的速度也不相同的“物体下落速度与重量成正比”的理论。伽俐略开创了实验物理的新时代，被人们称为“近代科学之父”，而他用来做实验的斜塔也因而更加遐迩闻名。

Do you know how tall the Leaning Tower of Pisa is?

E.     45.4 meters

F.     54.5 meters

G.     35.4 meters

H.     55.4 meters

                                                       (Key:B)

Vocabulary:

intermittedly 断断续续地

officially 正式地，官方地

install 安装

analysis 分析

lean on 依靠，依赖

Comprehension key:

1 D 整篇文章介绍的是比萨斜塔的建设历史。

2 C 比萨斜塔从1173年开始建设，1370年完工，所以耗时197年。

3 A donate意为“捐献，捐赠”跟contribute的意思类似。Give in: 屈服。