TCET


MouseMaster

Canadian Corner

Grammar Central

Crazy English

Terrible Teacher

Flashed ESL

American Stories



Instructions:
1.   Either print this exercise with the questions and complete them in a traditional fashion, or
2.   Press to run a self-marked version of this exercise.





1.   To get to the top of the world, you have to make a dangerous climb up the highest peak of Mount Everest. But getting to the top of Toronto is as easy as taking a long elevator ride up the side of the CN Tower.

2.   Standing high above the city skyline, the CN Tower is not just tallest building in Toronto. In fact, at slightly over 553 metres, the CN Tower is more than 13 metres higher than Moscow's Ostankino Tower, 100 metres higher than New York's Empire State Building and almost 230 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This makes the CN Tower the tallest freestanding tower in the world.

3.   The tower is located near Toronto's waterfront on the northern shores of Lake Ontario. Since opening, it has become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions. From the indoor "Space Deck," 147 storeys above the ground, tower visitors can enjoy a view of up to 160 kilometres on a clear day. For a more breathtaking look at Toronto, the CN Tower also has the world's highest observation deck. Visitors can literally walk on air 447 metres above the ground! The world's highest and largest revolving restaurant can also be found at the CN Tower, 351 metres above ground.

4.   The tower was built over a period of 40 months beginning on February 6, 1973. It was designed to serve as a communications tower used to transmit television, radio and microwave signals across the country. It cost $63 million to build and was officially opened to the public on June 26, 1976.

5.   Before the CN Tower came along, no one had ever built a structure rising so high above the ground. Many experts from around the world were asked to help in planning the design. As a result, a variety of new ideas went into making the tower both the tallest and the safest in the world.

6.   For example, the tower was built on a unique Y-shaped foundation dug nearly 15 metres into the ground. This base is concrete over six metres thick, and contains over 500 tons of steel and cable. To protect the tower from fierce winds blowing against its upper half, it was designed to resist winds as strong as 418 kilometres an hour. Even the windows, which are armour-plated, were carefully designed to withstand the constant wind pressure.

7.   Four glass elevators provide riders with a birds-eye view as they climb up the outside of the tower to Skypod. This giant donut-shaped structure is nearly seven storeys high and sits over 322 metres above the city near the top of the tower.

8.   While nearly 1.7 million visitors are drawn to the tower each year, it has also attracted a number of stunt people. In 1975, a member of the construction crew was the first person to parachute off the tower. In 1986, a man climbed the outside glass windows of the tower twice in one day. Others have run, pogo-sticked, and rode motorcycles up the 2,570 steps to the top.

9.   No matter how they get there, visitors to the top agree: there's no better way to see Toronto than from the CN Tower.



Copyright © 2006 Centre for Education & Training. All Rights Reserved