Presenter: This is London's latest hot spot. In the middle of the city's bustling heart, a bizarre beam of light radiates onto the street: powerful, dazzling and searingly hot. The cause of this phenomenon? This 37-storey tower. Once known as the Walkie-Talkie, it's been renamed as the Walkie-Scorchie! The half-built building's curved construction has had an unfortunate effect.
Reporter: As we look up, you can see that it's curved. And so, that's a vast area up there and it's collecting a lot of solar energy. Now, if that was to go out in all directions, it wouldn't really matter. But it's focusing down onto a point and it's focusing down here. So all that solar energy is getting pushed down here and the temperatures down here are getting really, really high.
Presenter: So high, it managed to record a temperature of an astonishing 92.6 degrees Celsius.
Presenter: Well, the sun has started to come out and is already hitting the building behind me. And already you can feel quite an intense heat here.
Presenter: Anything in the direct glare of the reflection can literally go up in smoke. It damaged this car parked nearby. It's caused carpets to smoulder, tiles to smash. It's so hot, you can even fry an egg and singe your hair trying.
Child: Ow! It's hot!
Woman 1: Just as you march through, you really feel the heat. It's quite intense.
Man 1: It's worse as you're coming through.
Woman 2: You'd get a good tan!
Woman 3: Yeah, it is quite hot here, yes.
Presenter: The designers say the problem is the current elevation of the sun. Over the next two to three weeks, weather permitting, it will shine directly onto the building. While they say they're working on the problem, the worst of it lasts for just two hours and it's during one of the busiest times in the day: lunchtime. It's certainly too much for Londoners used to murkier climes. Best to keep calm and keep covered.
© Al Jazeera
Comments
This is very interesting story in London. There are stories about make 'fry an egg' on the car bonnet, but I never heard of this kind of interesting story.
By the way, I have one question relating to this sory.
That is sentence '-- and singe your hair trying.'
Does this mean:
1) singe your hair to try. or
2) singe your hair and you will be trying(annoying).
I'm very much appreciated if I could get a correct answer and some related explanations. Thank you.
Hello monodrama,
The meaning is something else here:
...and singe your hair trying = and (you) singe your hair when you try
The present participle (trying) describes an action which happens at the same time as the action in the main clause.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Surely, the designers can do something in that way. It can be something like..I don't know...to cover that part of the building with a special material which can resistance to power of the sun. And, of course, it should fits the building. If they really want to fix the problem that has occured, for sure they can do it.
Well working tasks.
I think all cities which has glass covered skyscrapers have same issues. For example, Dubai has many of glass covered skyscrapers and these skyscrapers cause a high temperature in the summer. You can't walk on the road in the afternoon. It's impossible to go out from 11 to 5 o'clock. City officials must find a solution for this important and disturbing problem.
i think may be all that accumulated energy could be taken advantage of by replacing solar panels or something like that
I think the problem would come back every year during the same months.