埃菲爾鐵塔建成記
探索區
On March 31st， 1889， the Eiffel Tower opened in Paris. The opening ceremony[儀式] was presided over[負責，主持] by Gustave Eiffel， the tower’s designer， and attended by French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard， a handful of other dignitaries[顯要人物]， and 200 construction workers.
In 1889， to honor the 100th anniversary[周年紀念] of the French Revolution， the French government planned an international exposition[博覽會] and announced a design competition for a monument[紀念物] to be built on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris. Out of more than 100 designs submitted[提交]， the committee[委員會] chose Eiffel’s plan. The design was of an open-lattice[格子金屬架] wrought-iron[熟鐵，鍛鐵] tower that would reach almost 1，000 feet above Paris and be the world’s tallest man-made structure. Eiffel， a noted bridge builder， was a master of metal construction and designed the framework of the Statue of Liberty.
Eiffel’s tower was greeted with doubt from critics who argued that it would be structurally unsound[不穩固的]， and anger from others who thought it would be an eyesore[醜的東西，眼中釘] in the heart of Paris. Despite the critics， Eiffel completed his great tower under budget[預算] in just two years. Only one worker lost his life during construction， which at the time was a remarkably[顯著地] low casualty[傷亡] number for a project of that magnitude[巨大]. The light， airy structure was by all accounts[據大家所說] a technological[科技的] wonder. Within a few decades， it was regarded as an architectural[建築學的] masterpiece[傑作].
The Eiffel Tower is 984 feet tall and consists of[由……組成] an iron framework supported on four masonry[石建築] piers[墩]， from which rise four columns[柱狀物] that unite to form a single vertical[垂直的] tower. Platforms， each with an observation deck[觀景台]， are at three levels. Elevators[升降機] ascend[上升] the piers on a curve[曲線].