THIS IS AMERICA - The Empire State Building Turns 75By Caty Weaver
Broadcast: Monday, May 01, 2006
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. One of the best known buildings in the world is having a birthday. This famous building in New York City is seventy-five years old. And it is our subject this week.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The ground was broken on January twenty-second, nineteen thirty. Workers dug a hole about seventeen meters deep for the foundation. In March, work began on the steel structure. It grew taller and taller. By November, well ahead of plans, the stonework on the outside of the building was finished.
Empire State Building under construction
On May first, nineteen thirty-one, President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C. On went the lights of, at that time, the world's tallest building.
The Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan was open for business.
VOICE TWO:
The Empire State Building is just over four hundred forty-three meters tall. That includes the sixty-two meter tall lightening rod on top. There are one hundred three floors.
And if you want to reach them all on foot, just know there are more than one thousand eight hundred sixty stairs. Runners compete in a yearly race to the top. If even the thought of that makes you tired, then you might want to ride an elevator instead. The building has seventy-three of them.
The Empire State Building sits on more than seven thousand square meters of land.
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