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Take Away English 随身英语 11 August 2014 Reaching for the sky 城市摩天大楼 直冲云端 Vocabulary: buildings 楼房 When youre walking around a city, how often do you look up and admire the view? Many of us are in too much of a rush to appreciate the architecture all around us. Cities are always growing, and when space is at a premium, they expand upwards – reaching for the sky. The skylines of many modern cities are full of skyscrapers : landmarks that can be seen for miles around. What will the London skyline look like in ten years? These iconic buildings are often must-see sights for tourists and locals alike. New York has its Empire State Building and the glitzy skyscrapers of Manhattan. Dubai has the worlds tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, which stands at 828 metres; and Shanghai has the worlds number two with the completion of the Shanghai Tower. London hasnt always been associated with the race for vertical expansion, but since the opening of Canary Wharf tower in the citys Docklands area, the development of high-rise buildings has been unstoppable. Now London boasts new skyscrapers with quirky nicknames that reflect the shapes of the buildings - like the Gherkin, the Cheese Grater and the Walkie Talkie. Standing tall amongst them is the Shard –and at 309 metres its Europes tallest building. But they are not loved by everyone. While some prefer them to uninspiring rows of office blocks, others say they obstruct the sightlines of old-fashioned landmarks and that they threaten Londons cultural identity. Some say theyre just plain ugly! A group of high-profile Londoners, politicians, artisans and academics are now campaigning to halt certain high-rise developments. Jonathan Glancey, an architecture and design critic and writer, says: The sad thing is that the quality of the 200 buildings proposed is remarkably low, like weeds in a garden, like Japanese