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2022 מועד אביב - 41 - פרק ראשון- אנגלית
Text II (Questions 18-22)
(1) The iconic skyscraper that towers over Taiwan's capital city, Taipei, is a source of
great national pride. The mammoth office building and luxury shopping mall – called
Taipei 101 for its 101 floors – opened in 2004 and held the coveted title of the world's
tallest skyscraper until 2010, when it was surpassed by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
(5) Despite its short tenure as the world's tallest building, Taipei 101 remains a popular
tourist attraction thanks to its extraordinary structural engineering, which is also rich in
symbolism.
Innovative engineering was needed to make a building of Taipei 101's stature both
stable and safe. Taipei 101 had to be able to withstand both typhoons – storms
(10) characterized by intense winds – and earthquakes. To absorb gale force winds and
seismic activity, the building had to be somewhat flexible as well as extremely sturdy.
And indeed, the green glass-encased, tiered tower sways back and forth imperceptibly
when necessary.
The mechanism that achieves this strength and structural flexibility incorporates
(15) several components, including reinforced foundations and steel mega-columns packed
with concrete. But by far the most impressive feature is the tuned mass damper (TMD),
situated in an open chamber at the center of the building's upper floors. In simple terms,
this device is a pendulum: an enormous ball, consisting of stacked steel plates,
suspended from gigantic cables. When the building is hit by a strong gust of wind or
(20) shaken by an earthquake, the pendulum acts as a counterweight, swinging to and fro in
order to offset and thereby control any movement of the building. This design has
proven itself multiple times: the building has successfully withstood several natural
disasters, including the massive Sichuan earthquake of 2008 and Typhoon Soudelor,
with its 285-kilometer-per-hour winds, in 2015. While many skyscrapers utilize
(25) this vital device, the TMD in Taipei 101 is not only the largest in the world, it is also a
striking showpiece. Every day over 6,000 people take the building's high-speed
elevators to an inward-facing observation deck on the 88th floor to gaze at the huge,
gold-painted damper and learn about its workings.
Taipei 101 embodies the Asian proverb that in order to deal with the challenges of
(30) life, one must be like a bamboo stalk: bend, but never break; sway with the wind, but
do not fight against it.
Questions
18. According to the text, Taipei 101 is all of the following except -
(1) covered with green glass
(2) a counterweight
(3) a luxury shopping mall
(4) stable and safe
)© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר
. בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה- כולה או חלקים ממנה- או ללמדה,אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי
