Glass slide opens 300 meters above the street

[Business ★★]

(P1) A slide has opened in downtown Los Angeles, but not in a children’s park. The new Skyslide is on the outside of an office tower, 300 meters above the street. It is made of glass just 3 cm thick. It cost $3.5 million to build. The slide starts at the 70th floor and goes down 15 meters to the 69th floor. The ride takes about five seconds from top to bottom. Riders sit on a safety mat and push themselves out of a window. Only one person can slide at a time.

(P2) The tower’s owner wanted to make a special attraction. She said: “We have to do something that doesn’t exist anywhere else.” The slide is safe enough to support a school bus. A reporter who went on the slide said: “Before you can get a really proper scream going, you’re launched out onto a safety mat on an outdoor deck on the 69th floor.” Tickets to get into the Skyspace area on the 70th floor are $25. A ride on the Skyslide costs an additional $8.

WORDS: 177

SOURCE: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1606/160628-los-angeles-1.html

VOCABULARY: downtown, mat, attraction, exist, scream, launched, deck

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Would you pay to go down the Skyslide? Why or why not?
3. Are you afraid of heights? Why or why not?
4. Do you think the cost to go down the slide is cheap or expensive? Why?

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

1. Which city is the attraction located in?
2. What is the slide built of?
3. The slide ends on the 70th level. (T or F)
4. According to the article, the slide can handle the weight of a truck. (T or F)
5. The price to go down the slide is $25. (T or F)

EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:

What do the following expressions or phrases mean?

• Office tower (P1)
• From top to bottom (P1)
• safe enough to support a school bus (P2)
• Launched out (P2)

Image source: by Lucy Nicholson / Reuters http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/daredevils-test-vertigo-inducing-skyslide-in-los-angeles/