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BEST IELTS General Reading Test 482
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 482 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 482
READING PASSAGE – 3
Petronas Twin Towers
A. The Petronas Towers, also recognized as the Petronas Twin Towers are twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Conferring to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)’s official definition and ranking, they were the highest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, till they were beaten by Taipei 101. The Petronas Towers remain the tallest twin towers in the world. The buildings are a momentous of Kuala Lumpur, along with nearby Kuala Lumpur Tower; they remain the tallest buildings in Kuala Lumpur.
B. A Petronas Towers’ physical system is a tube in tube design, developed by Fazlur Rahman Khan. Smearing a tube-structure for thrilling tall buildings is a common phenomenon. The 88-floor towers are erected primarily of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade intended to look like motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia’s Muslim religion. Another Islamic inspiration on the design is that the cross section of the towers is created on a Rub el Hizb, albeit with round sectors added to meet office space requirements. The circular sectors are similar to the bottom part of the Qutub Minar.
IELTS General Reading Test
C. The towers were planned by Argentine architect César Pelli. A characteristic postmodern style was selected to produce a 21st-century icon for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Planning of the Petronas Towers started on 1 January 1992 and comprised rigorous tests and simulations of wind and structural loads on the design. Seven years of construction trailed at the previous site of the original Selangor Turf Club, beginning on 1 March 1993 with excavation, which intricated moving 500 truckloads of Earth every night to dig down 30 metres underneath the surface.
D. The construction of the giant structure was embarked on 1 April 1994 and all its interior construction along with the furniture was finalised on 1 January 1996. However, the spires of Tower 1 and Tower 2 were completed on 1 March 1996, 3 years after its construction was started, and the first batch of Petronas personnel moved into the building on 1 January 1997. The building was officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Malaysia’s Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad on 1 August 1999. The twin towers were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur’s racetrack.
IELTS General Reading Test
Test boreholes found that the original construction site successfully sat on the edge of a cliff. One half of the site was decomposed limestone while the other half was soft rock. The whole site was displaced 61 metres to let the buildings to sit entirely on the soft rock. For of the depth of the bedrock, the buildings were constructed on the world’s deepest foundations. 104 concrete piles, reaching from 60 to 114 metres deep, were bored into the ground.
The concrete raft foundation, encompassing 13,200 cubic metres of concrete was incessantly poured through a period of 54 hours for each tower. The raft is 4.6 metres thick, weighs 32,500 tonnes and apprehended the world record for the largest concrete pour till 2007. The foundations were accomplished within 12 months by BachySoletanche and required enormous amounts of concrete.
IELTS General Reading Test
E. As a result of the Malaysian government stipulating that the buildings be accomplished in six years, two construction consortia were appointed to meet the deadline, one for each tower. Tower 1, the west tower was constructed by a Japanese consortium controlled by the Hazama Corporation (JA Jones Construction Co., MMC Engineering Services SdnBhd, Ho Hup Construction Co. Bhd and Mitsubishi Corp) while Tower 2, the east tower was constructed by a South Korean consortium led by the Samsung C&T Corporation (Kukdong Engineering & Construction and Syarikat JasateraSdn Bhd).
F. Early into construction a batch of concrete did not pass a routine strength test leading construction to come to a complete standstill. All the finalized floors were verified but it was found that only one had used a bad batch and it was wrecked. As a result of the concrete failure, each new batch was verified before being poured.
The halt in construction had cost US$700,000 per day and led to three separate concrete plants being set up on the site to confirm that if one produced a bad batch, the other two could stay to supply concrete. The sky bridge contract was accomplished by Kukdong Engineering & Construction. Tower 2 (Samsung C&T) became the first to reach the world’s tallest building at the time.
IELTS General Reading Test
G. Due to the enormous expense of importing steel, the towers were constructed on a cheaper radical design of super high-strength reinforced concrete. High-strength concrete is a material accustomed to Asian contractors and twice as operative as steel in power reduction; though, it makes the building twice as heavy on its foundation as a comparable steel building. Chocked by 23-by-23 metre concrete cores and an outer ring of approximately spaced super columns, the towers use a cultured structural system that lodges its slender profile and offers 560,000 square metres of column-free office space. Beneath the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, and Petronas Philharmonic Hall, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Questions 27-33
Which paragraph contains the following information? Write correct letter A-G in your answer sheet.
NB you may use any letter more than once.
27. Failure of a concrete consignment leading to the momentary cessation of construction.
28. The site of the towers had to be moved because there were two different surfaces underneath.
29. Characteristics of the twin towers.
30. Reinforced material used in the construction of the towers to condense the cost.
31. Being the highest twin towers in the world.
32. Scheduling of the towers.
33. Construction of towers by different establishments.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 34-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE – If the statement agrees with the information.
FALSE – If the statement contradicts the information.
NOT GIVEN – If there is no information on this.
IELTS General Reading Test
34. The Petronas towers are the tallest towers in the world right now.
35. The main core and structure of twin towers are mostly constructed by steel.
36. The scheduling of towers began on 1 March 1993.
37. The entire site was relocated to let the buildings to assemble completely on the soft rock.
38. The termination in construction had cost US$700,000 per day.
39. The sky bridge connects Petronas towers with the buildings in the vicinity.
40. Surya KLCC mall is located on the footsteps of Petronas Towers.
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
27. F
28. D
29. B
30. G
31. A
32. C
33. E
34. FALSE
35. FALSE
36. FALSE
37. TRUE
38. TRUE
39. NOT GIVEN
40. TRUE
IELTS General Reading Test