World News for Students of English

29-10-2021 07:00

Dubai officially opened the world’s largest and tallest ferris wheel on Thursday, as the city tries to build its status for tourism.

The wheel took more than six years to develop, and it opened with a lavish drone and firework show. Standing on the city’s Bluewaters Island, the structure needed to be drilled down into the ground to hold the weight of the whole structure.

The Dubai’s Eye, known as Ain Dubai in Arabic, stands around 250 meters tall, and it can hold 1,750 visitors. The construction used 11,200 tons of steel to build, which is about 33% more than the amount used to construct the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The structure’s hub and spindle weigh 1,805 tons, which is the equivalent to four large airplanes. 192 spokes hold the wheel, each made of 107 separate 9milimeter-thick wires. Each of the 48 cabins fit 40 people. People designed Ain Duba to last 300,000 cycles, or 60 years, to adhere to strict design and safety codes.

Difficult words: hub and spindle (part of a machine for turning), spoke (one of the rods that connect the edge of a wheel to its center), adhere (to obey a rule or follow the practices of something).