VOA慢速英语--纽约帝国大厦开放新天文台

New York’s Empire State Building Opens New Observatory¹

The world famous Empire State Building opened a new visitors’ center last weekend.

The new observatory can be found on the building’s 102nd floor, high above New York City.

The observatory provides 360-degree views of the New York area. Visitors are able to look through large floor-to-ceiling windows that are twice as big as the old windows.

The Empire State Building was built at a time when many developers were racing² to be the first to complete the world’s tallest building.

Ground was first broken in January 1930 and work began two months later. The building went up very fast, with workers completing framing for its structure at a rate of about four-and-a-half floors per week.

When completed, the Empire State Building was just over 443 meters tall. At the time, it was the world’s tallest building. On May 1, 1931, the president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, took part in the opening ceremonies. He pressed a button that turned on the lights, officially opening the building. At the time, Hoover was in Washington, D.C., not New York.

Today, more than 4 million people visit the Empire State Building each year. About 60 percent of the visitors are from overseas.

The Empire State Building has observation areas on two floors. The first, on the 86th floor, is an open air space that surrounds the building’s spire³. It provides 360-degree views of the New York City skyline.

Building officials say that on a clear day, visitors to the newly designed observatory can see past up to 120 kilometers in the distance.

Night-time visitors can take a new, high-speed elevator up to the 102nd floor until 1:15 in the morning. Elevator riders should take note of the building’s lighting⁴ on the way up. The lights change colors daily to celebrate different holidays or people.

On the way up, you can now visit new exhibits on the building’s second floor. Among these are a model of the moving hand used by King Kong in the 1933 movie of the same name.

In the film, King Kong climbs the Empire State Building. The creature is attacked by military planes and falls to his death.

The price to visit the 86th floor observatory is $38 per person, while the cost to ride all the way to the top is $58.

A major New York City developer paid for the $165 million remodeling project.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

360 degrees – adj. involving a complete or total sight of something

view – n. the act of seeing or examination; lookout⁵

ceiling – n. the upper part of a room

frame – n. the structure or a building

button – n. something you press to control a piece of equipment

spire – n. a tall, pointed⁶ tower on the top of a building

elevator – n. a machine that carries people up and down in buildings

exhibit – n. a place where objects or artwork are shown

1 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

2 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

3 spire   

n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点

参考例句：

• The church spire was struck by lightning.教堂的尖顶遭到了雷击。
• They could just make out the spire of the church in the distance.他们只能辨认出远处教堂的尖塔。

4 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

5 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。