| Home | News| Living in China| MMS | SMS | About us | Contact us|
   
 Language Tips > Bilingual news
Updated: 2005-05-09 10:06

Dubai to build world's tallest hotel

世界最高旅馆“迪拜塔”即将拔地而起

Dubai to build world's tallest hotel

A computer image released by the Samsung Corp. showing the 'Burj Dubai' (Dubai Tower)

Dubai-owned airline Emirates said it would build one of the world's tallest hotels to cater for growing numbers of tourists to the Gulf Arab emirate.

The Dubai Tower will be the tallest building in the world when finished. It would dwarf the 553m CN Tower in Toronto and planned high-rises in Shanghai and New York.

Some 4000 workers and 100 cranes have gathered to build the hotel, residential and shopping complex of at least 700m which will include over 1000 luxury apartments.

The exact height is being kept a secret, partly for fear of rival bids to be the tallest free-standing building, and because by 2008 it might be technologically possible to go even higher.

Dubai-based architects say they expect Dubai Tower to hit at least 800m. The tower alone would cost at least $1 billion to construct, excluding the complex malls, lakes and smaller tower blocs.

"The design has pushed the limits of what technology can achieve, no one has gone that high before. You have to invent new elevators that can sustain such heights," Naaman Atallah, sales manager for its owner Emaar, told journalists on a tour of the site.

Designed by a US-based consultancy, the tower employs the geometric patterns of Islamic architecture around a base in the form of a six-petalled desert flower.

The plans show an ambitious single structure comprising conjoined tube-shaped towers with the kind of space-age look seen in the New Age album covers of 70s progressive rock bands.

Dubai -- part of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates -- received more than 5.4 million visitors in 2004, up nine percent from 2003, and that the number was expected to grow three times by the end of the decade.

(Agencies)

迪拜所有的阿联酋航空公司表示,它将修建一座世界上最高的旅馆,以容纳海湾国家阿联酋日益增长的观光客。

竣工后的“迪拜塔”将成为世界上最高的建筑,连553米高的多伦多电视塔和它一比都会变成“小矮人”,上海和纽约正在筹划中的超高层建筑也将相形见绌。

这座将居住和购物集于一身的综合性大厦至少将有700米高,内有1000套豪华公寓。为修建这座旅馆共调用了大约4000名工人和100台起重机。

大楼的确切高度目前仍然保密,一方面是因为投资方担心竞争对手将这个“最高独立建筑物”的名头抢走,另外,修筑更高楼层的技术也许到了2008年就已成熟。

来自迪拜的建筑师说,他们希望迪拜塔至少有800米高,光是修建这座塔就至少耗资10亿美元,还不包括修筑大型购物中心、湖泊和稍矮的塔楼群的费用。

“这一设计将触及技术所能达到的颠峰,在此之前没有一座建筑能修那么高。人们不得不开发能适应这种高度的新型电梯。”迪拜塔的所有者埃马公司的销售经理纳曼·阿塔拉在参观该建筑工地时对记者说。

迪拜塔是由美国的一家顾问公司设计的,基座周围采用了富有伊斯兰建筑风格的几何图形——六瓣的沙漠之花。

这些设计方案展示了一种具有挑战性的单式结构,由联为一体的管状多塔组成,具有太空时代风格的外形。这种形象曾在70年代的现代摇滚乐队中常见的具有新世纪音乐风格的专辑封面上出现过。

迪拜,这个富产石油的阿联酋成员国2004年间接待了超过540万名游客,比2003年上涨了9%,到本世纪第10年,预计游客数字将增长三倍。

(中国日报网站译)

 

 

Vocabulary:

Dubai: 迪拜,阿拉伯联合酋长国东部的一个城市和酋长国,滨邻波斯湾,19世纪60年代在此发现石油。人口265,702万。

dwarf: to cause to appear small by comparison(相形之下使矮小)

high-rise: a multistoried building equipped with elevators(高层建筑)

complex: 综合物;综合性建筑

free-standing: (雕刻、建筑物等)独立的,自力撑持的

New Age: 新世纪音乐,也译作新纪元音乐,是70年代产生的一种音乐形式,从冥思和心灵作为出发点而创作的一种非流行、非古典、具实验性质的乐风,其代表名家有班得瑞、雅尼、神秘园等。

 
Go to Other Sections
Related Stories
· Only in Argentina? Foreign debt museum opens doors
亡羊补牢 阿根廷开放外债博物馆
· Review: 'Interpreter' a terrific thriller
《翻译风波》——惊悚片的杰作
· Japanese inns take you back in time
传统日式客栈 重温昔日生活
more
 
Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved

版权声明:未经中国日报网站许可,任何人不得复制本栏目内容。如需转载请与本网站联系。
None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.