BEST IELTS General Reading Test 476

BEST IELTS General Reading Test 476

IELTS General Reading Test

The Iconic Symbol of France

The Eiffel Tower or La Tour Eiffel as it is known in French, is the symbol of France today. Just three or four strokes of a pen that outline its shape can immediately conjure an image of the spirit of the French nation. It has dominated the skyline of Paris for more than 130 years and its shape not only represents Paris, and as a result, France, but is often recognized as a symbol of Europe itself. It is in fact, the world’s most visited monument that charges an entrance fee. When people from anywhere in the world are asked what monument represents France to them, they invariably answer that it is the Eiffel Tower.

The French themselves promote the symbol in logos and signs that represent their country. The tower has become a type of emoji as shorthand for France. When it was built in 1889, it was to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution and the rise of the French republic and democracy, and the French were keen promote the country’s achievements since then and to shake off brutal memories of the revolution. Europe was experiencing an era of peace the length of which had never been witnessed. France was in the full swing of the industrial revolution and there was a general national feeling of moving forward and looking towards the future.

IELTS General Reading Test

The 300-metre tower was built to act as an entrance gate to the 1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris as a symbol of industrial strength and power. The tower bears the name of Gustave Eiffel, who won the original competition for the building, but it was actually designed by his two chief engineers, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier. One of its innovative construction features was that it was completely composed of prefabricated pieces that could be carried by only two people.

Even the lifts in the tower were at the forefront of technology at the time, hydraulically carrying people up the angled sides of the pylons to the second level, not vertically from the centre as it is in most buildings. It was a safe building site as well, as Eiffel insisted on working practices that saw only one person dying during construction, something unusual in its day. It was the tallest building in the world at the time (and remains the tallest structure in Paris to this day) and there were some who feared that it was impossible to build a structure of that height or that it would not survive strong winds.

IELTS General Reading Test

At the time it was designed, it was planned to be taken down within twenty years but was saved from this in 1909 when an antenna was added to the top of the tower to conduct wireless signals. By the end of the First World War in 1918, it had already become a symbol of Paris. The tower was nearly destroyed in 1944 when Adolf Hitler ordered its demolition. The order was, fortunately, never carried out.

It must have been an amazing sight as it was erected over a two-year period from 1887. Now we are accustomed to seeing tall buildings and towers on city skylines, but this was unprecedented. The people of Paris watched in wonder to see this wrought iron symbol of modernity rising to a height never before witnessed. Photographers captured the stages of its construction, which were published in newspapers around the world. Paris at the time was less built up than it is today, so the rising tower dominated the skyline even more than it does now.

It had its critics. A group of 300 artists and intellectuals denounced it during its construction as ugly and ridiculous and a blight on the skyline of Paris. It was referred to as the metal asparagus, as it slowly grew into the sky over the two-year period. Eiffel responded by comparing his construction to the pyramids of Egypt, saying it would be the tallest building ever erected by man.

IELTS General Reading Test

In hindsight, he was not exaggerating the importance of the structure. Another of the tower’s critics, Guy de Maupassant, would later famously boast that he ate lunch in a restaurant at the tower daily as it was the only point in Paris where he was saved from having to look at it. It was immediately popular after it opened however, and thousands of people flocked to climb it and experience its panoramic views of Paris.

In 2002 it was announced that 200 million people had visited the tower since its construction, and seven million people per year, three quarters of them from other countries, have been visiting it ever since. Since 1985, it has been lit up at night, usually in gold, though it is now often illuminated in various colours and designs including the colours of the French flag, which has further enhanced its iconic status.

IELTS General Reading Test

Look at the following statements (Questions 28-32) and the list of people (A-D) below.

Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter A, B, C or D, in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

28. He disliked the tower.

29. He designed the tower.

30. He won the competition to build the tower.

31. He was an enthusiast of safe building practices.

32. He often visited the tower.

IELTS General Reading Test

LIST OF PEOPLE

A. Gustave Eiffel

B. Maurice Koechlin

C. Adolph Hitler

D. Guy de Maupassant

IELTS General Reading Test

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

The symbolic tower

– The Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris, of France and possibly even of 33………………….

– Surveys show that people always say that the 34…………………. that symbolizes France to them is the Eiffel Tower.

– The simplified image of the tower is seen so often in logos, it has taken on the form of an 35………………….

– It was built during the industrial revolution, a hundred years after the French Revolution in the longest period of 36…………………. the country had ever seen.

IELTS General Reading Test

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

37. The lifts in the Eiffel Tower we innovative because they

A. could be managed by two people.

B. were hydraulically mechanized.

C. were highest in the world.

D. went up the slanted side of the pylons.

38. When was the tower planned to be dismantled?

A. 1889

B. 1909

C. 1918

D. 1944

IELTS General Reading Test

39. What did a group of artists and intellectuals say about the tower?

A. They said they were amazed by it.

B. They were enthusiastic about it.

C. They said it was awful.

D. They compared it to the pyramids of Egypt.

40. What feature was added to the tower in 1985?

A. Lights

B. A flag

C. A gold top

D. Coloured paint

IELTS General Reading Test

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IELTS General Reading Test

28. D

29. B

30. A

31. A

32. D

33. EUROPE

34. MONUMENT

35. EMOJI

36. PEACE

37. D

38. B

39. C

40. A

IELTS General Reading Test

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