Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat are two of the most amazing structures known to mankind.
馬丘比丘和吳哥窟都是最為人所知的奇特建築。
Man has always had an
innate desire for fame, power, and glory. Rulers of kingdoms would force thousands of their people to do
backbreaking labor for years at a time so that their names would be
immortalized in the history books. This month, National Geographic Channel's Ancient Megastructures takes a look at some of the most majestic structures from around the world.
Before the airport was built in Siem Reap, travelers looking for adventure had to take a
bumpy 315-kilometer truck ride deep into the heart of the jungle from Phnom Phen, the capital of Cambodia. Once they survived this
treacherous journey, visitors were greeted by one of the largest religious monuments in the world, Angkor Wat. In the 12th century, Khmer King Suryavarman
set out to create his
vision of "heaven on Earth."
As explained in Ancient Megastructures: Angkor Wat, in order to build this enormous temple in the middle of the jungle, the king needed a
quarry where he could cut out and
transport sandstone. Thousands of workers spent years cutting these stones,
floating them down
canals to the
construction site, and
assembling them in a way that is
utterly unbelievable to this day. The blocks remain in
place today because of the
meticulous way the stones were placed on top of each other, which means that no
nails or
mortar were needed in the original construction hundreds of years ago.
Halfway around the world, the results of the construction of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes were
strikingly similar. The huge blocks were cut so
precisely that barely a knife
blade can
fit in between the rocks. While building this
sacred city in the sky, Pachacuti, the Emperor-god of the Incas in the 15th century, faced problems like earthquakes and
landslides from
torrential rains. After many years, Machu Picchu
was home to 1,000 people living at an
elevation of more than 2,350 meters in the sky. This month, Ancient Megastructures: Machu Picchu
treks up to the clouds and finds this lost city exactly like what Pachacuti
intended it
to be—mysterious and
awe-inspiring.
1. According to the article, what is something that man does NOT want?
(A) To be admired by everyone.
(B) To be known by everyone.
(C) To be just like everyone else.
(D) To have more power than everyone else.
2. The term immortalized in the first paragraph means _____.
(A) being remembered forever
(B) dying at a young age
(C) having a huge grave
(D) turning over a new leaf
3. How are Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu similar?
(A) They are both located in Asia.
(B) The Incas
had a hand in the building of both structures.
(C) Both temples were made of sandstone.
(D) The construction of both had similar results.
4. According to the article, what is true about Pachacuti?
(A) He was just an ordinary citizen of Peru.
(B) He eventually realized that his dream of people living in the sky was unworkable.
(C) He died in an earthquake.
(D) He
envisioned Machu Picchu to have an aura of mystery about it.
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