Where Is theTallest Building?最高的建筑在哪里？

What’s that？ Up there in the sky！ Is it a bird？ Or a plane？ No！ It’s a skyscraper1！ Have you ever seen a skyscraper up close？ If you live in a big city，there’s a good chance you’ve probably2 seen many skyscrapers. If you don’t， youmight have only seen skyscrapers on a vacation to a big city or on television.

那是什么？在天上！它是一只鸟吗？还是飞机？不对！是摩天大楼！你近距离看过摩天大楼吗？如果你住在大城市，你很可能见过许多摩天大楼。如果你没见过，那你可能只有去大城市度假或在电视上才能看见摩天大楼了。

There are some famous skyscrapers in Chicago and New York that have onceheld the title3 of world’s tallest building. For example， the Empire State Buildingin New York City and the Willis Tower in Chicago have both held that title in thepast. So where is the world’s tallest building today？ As of January 4， 2010， thetitle goes to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It stands more than a half-mile tall at 2，722feet and has 163 floors.

芝加哥和纽约有一些著名的摩天大楼，它们曾经拥有世界最高建筑的称号。例如，纽约市的帝国大厦和芝加哥的威利斯大厦都曾获此殊荣。那么今天世界上最高的建筑在哪里呢？截至2010 年1 月4 日，这一头衔属于迪拜的哈利法塔。它高达2722 英尺，超过半英里高，有163 层楼。

Unluckily for the Dubai giant4， it might not keep that title much longer.Jeddah Tower， also called The Kingdom Tower in Jeddah， is planned to reach 1kilometer （3，281 feet）. This building has not been finished. It will have 167 floors，and it is being built at a cost of $1.5 billion.

不幸的是，对于迪拜巨塔来说，这一头衔可能保持不了太久。吉达塔位于吉达，也被称为王国塔，按计划将高达1 公里（3281 英尺）。这座大楼现在还没有完工，它将有167 层，造价15 亿美元。

Will buildings keep getting taller and taller into the future5？ Maybe. As scienceand technology keep on growing， there will be people who want to build tallerskyscrapers. How tall can buildings go？ No one knows for sure. But first， buildingsmust deal with the strong winds when they are at those heights6. Second， money isalso important. To build taller and taller buildings is not cheap. For example， theBurj Khalifa cost about $1.5 billion to build.

未来的楼房会越来越高吗？也许吧。随着科学技术的不断发展，总会有人想要建造更高的摩天大楼。楼房能有多高呢？没有人确切知道。但是首先，楼房在达到这些高度时必须应对强风。第二，钱也很重要。建造越来越高的楼房并不便宜。例如，哈利法塔的建造成本约为15 亿美元。

The biggest problem to building even taller buildings might be the elevator7.Some of the world’s tallest buildings need “sky lobbies8”， where you have to takeanother elevator to get to the highest floors. Reaching the top of the world’s tallestbuildings can take as long as three minutes or more without stopping at any otherfloors. As a result， until elevator technology grows， the world’s tallest buildings maynot become much taller.

建造更高层建筑的最大问题可能是电梯。有些世界上最高的建筑需要一个“天空大厅”，在那里你必须换乘另一部电梯才能到达最高的楼层。不用在任何其他楼层停留而到达世界最高建筑的顶楼，可能需要三分钟或更长时间。因此，在电梯技术有了突破之前，世界上最高的建筑可能无法再增高太多了。

（英语原文选自：wonderopolis.org）