Why pagodas don’t fall down.docxVIP

Why pagodas don’t fall downA In a land swept by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, how have Japans tallest and seeminglyflimsiest 不结实的; 易损坏的(原型flimsy)old buildings — 500 or so wooden pagodas?宝塔— remained standing for centuries? Records show that only two have collapsed during the past 1400 years. (第1题)Those that have disappeared were destroyed by fire as a result of lightning or civil war. The disastrous损失惨重的 Hanshin earthquake in 1995killed 6,400 people, toppledelevated highways, flattened s使…成为平地office blocks and devastated 毁灭; 摧毁the port area of Kobe. Yet it left the magnificent five-storey pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed未受损伤; 未遭伤害(第2题) though it levelled夷平a number of buildings in the neighborhood.【重要词汇】Remain: continue to be; stay in the same condition 仍然是; 保持不变: remain standing, seated, etc 一直站着﹑坐着等 * He remained silent. 他保持沉默. * Let things remain as they are. 一切保持现状吧. * In spite of their quarrel, they remained the best of friends. 他们尽管吵过架, 却仍不失为最好的朋友Topple: ~ (over) (a)be unsteady and fall 不稳而倒下: The pile of books toppled over onto the floor. 那一摞书倒在地板上了. (b) [Tn,Tn.pr] cause (sth) to do this 使（某物）倒下: The explosion toppled the old chimney. 这次爆炸把那个旧烟囱给炸倒了.B Japanese scholars have been mystified for ages about why these tall, slender buildings are so stable. It was only thirty years ago that the building industry felt confident enough to erect office blocks of steel and reinforced concrete that had more than a dozen floors.（第3题） With its special shock absorbers 减震器to dampen the effect of sudden sideways movements from an earthquake, the thirty-six-storey Kasumigaseki building in central Tokyo — Japans first skyscraper摩天楼— was considered a masterpiece of modern engineering when it was built in 1968.【重要词汇】mystify/ ?m?st?fa?; ˋm?st??fa?/ v (pt, pp -fied) [Tn] make (sb) confused through lack of understanding; puzzle; bewilder 使（某人）困惑不解; 使迷惑: Im mystified; I just cant see how he did it. 我大惑不解, 就是不明白他是怎麽做到的. * her mystifying disappearance 她神秘的失踪.da