共用题干The Only Way Is Up
Think of a modern city and the first im ige that comes to mind is the skyline It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaver,It is true that some cities don't permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past.The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers。
When people gather together in cities,theY create a demand for land.Since cities are places where money is made,that demand can be met.And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground.That means building upwards.
The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century.But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor.They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs.People could not be expected to climb a mountain at th,e end of their journey to work,or home.
Elisha Otis,a US inventor,was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator,as he preferred to call it.
However,most of the technology is very old,Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids.What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken.It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention,in fact,he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds,giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects arid builders.
A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now.Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring.Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating.The reason is simple.Scientists have always studied animals in zoos.The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.
"It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of persona.1 space we carry around with us-and you just can't choose to move away,"says workplace psychologist,Gary Fitzgibbon."Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions,"he says.Some people are scared of theim Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss。Some stand close to the door.Others hide in the corners.Most people try and shrink into the background.But some behave in a way that n.iakes others notice them.rfhere are a few people who just stand in a corner taking notes.
Don't worry about them.They are probably from a university. Going in a lift is convenient every day.A:Right B:Wrong C:Not mentioned