ĐỀ THI IELTS READING VÀ ĐÁP ÁN - The Revolutionary Bridges of Robert Maillart

DỊCH HOÀN THIỆN ĐỀ THI IELTS READING VÀ GIẢI THÍCH ĐÁP ÁN:

The Revolutionary Bridges of Robert Maillart

Swiss engineer Robert Maillart built some of the greatest bridges of the 20th century. His designs elegantly solved a basic engineering problem: how to support enormous weights using a slender arch.

Kỹ sư người Thụy Sĩ Robert Maillart đã xây dựng một số cây cầu vĩ đại nhất của thế kỷ 20. Các thiết kế của ông đã giải quyết một cách tinh tế một vấn đề kỹ thuật cơ bản: làm thế nào để chống đỡ những trọng lượng khổng lồ bằng cách sử dụng một vòm mỏng manh.

A Just as railway bridges were the great structural symbols of the 19th century, highway bridges became the engineering emblems of the 20th century. The invention of the automobile created an irresistible demand for paved roads and vehicular bridges throughout the developed world. The type of bridge needed for cars and trucks, however, is fundamentally different from that needed for locomotives. Most highway bridges carry lighter loads than railway bridges do, and their roadways can be sharply curved or steeply sloping. To meet these needs, many turn-of-the-century bridge designers began working with a new building material: reinforced concrete, which has steel bars embedded in it. And the master of this new material was Swiss structural engineer, Robert Maillart.

Giống như cầu đường sắt là biểu tượng cấu trúc vĩ đại của thế kỷ 19, cầu đường cao tốc đã trở thành biểu tượng kỹ thuật của thế kỷ 20. Việc phát minh ra ô tô đã tạo ra một nhu cầu không thể tránh được đối với những con đường trải nhựa và những cây cầu dành cho xe cộ trên khắp thế giới phát triển. Tuy nhiên, loại cầu dành cho ô tô và xe tải về cơ bản khác với loại cầu dành cho đầu máy xe lửa. Hầu hết các cầu đường cao tốc chịu tải trọng nhẹ hơn so với cầu đường sắt và lòng đường của chúng có thể rất cong hoặc rất dốc. Để đáp ứng những nhu cầu này, nhiều nhà thiết kế cầu của thời kỳ chuyển giao thế kỷ đã bắt đầu làm việc với một loại vật liệu xây dựng mới: bê tông cốt thép, có các thanh thép nhúng trong đó. Và bậc thầy của vật liệu mới này là kỹ sư kết cấu người Thụy Sĩ, Robert Maillart.

B Early in his career, Maillart developed a unique method for designing bridges, buildings and other concrete structures. He rejected the complex mathematical analysis of loads and stresses that was being enthusiastically adopted by most of his contemporaries. At the same time, he also eschewed the decorative approach taken by many bridge builders of his time. He resisted imitating architectural styles and adding design elements solely for ornamentation. Maillart’s method was a form of creative intuition. He had a knack for conceiving new shapes to solve classic engineering problems. And because he worked in a highly competitive field, one of his goals was economy - he won design and construction contracts because his structures were reasonably priced, often less costly than all his rivals’ proposals.

Khi mới vào nghề, Maillart đã phát triển một phương pháp độc đáo để thiết kế cầu, tòa nhà và các kết cấu bê tông khác. Ông từ chối phân tích toán học phức tạp về tải trọng và ứng suất đang được hầu hết những người cùng thời với ông nhiệt tình áp dụng. Đồng thời, ông cũng tránh xa cách tiếp cận trang trí của nhiều người xây cầu cùng thời với ông. Ông chống lại việc bắt chước phong cách kiến trúc và việc thêm các yếu tố thiết kế chỉ để trang trí. Phương pháp của Maillart là một dạng trực giác sáng tạo.Ông ấy có sở trường nghĩ ra những hình dạng mới để giải quyết các vấn đề kỹ thuật cổ điển. Và bởi vì ông ấy làm việc trong một lĩnh vực có tính cạnh tranh cao nên một trong những mục tiêu của ông ấy là kinh tế - ông ấy đã giành được các hợp đồng thiết kế và xây dựng vì các cấu trúc của ông ấy có giá hợp lý, thường ít tốn kém hơn so với tất cả các đề xuất của các đối thủ.

C Maillart’s first important bridge was built in the small Swiss town of Zuoz. The local officials had initially wanted a steel bridge to span the 30-metre wide Inn River, but Maillart argued that he could build a more elegant bridge made of reinforced concrete for about the same cost. His crucial innovation was incorporating the bridge’s arch and roadway into a form called the hollow-box arch, which would substantially reduce the bridge’s expense by minimising the amount of concrete needed. In a conventional arch bridge, the weight of the roadway is transferred by columns to the arch, which must be relatively thick. In Maillart’s design, though, the roadway and arch were connected by three vertical walls, forming two hollow boxes running under the roadway (see diagram). The big advantage of this design was that because the arch would not have to bear the load alone, it could be much thinner - as little as one-third as thick as the arch in the conventional bridge.

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D His first masterpiece, however, was the 1905 Tavanasa Bridge over the Rhine river in the Swiss Alps. In this design, Maillart removed the parts of the vertical walls which were not essential because they carried no load. This produced a slender, lighter-looking form, which perfectly met the bridge’s structural requirements. But the Tavanasa Bridge gained little favourable publicity in Switzerland; on the contrary, it aroused strong aesthetic objections from public officials who were more comfortable with old-fashioned stone-faced bridges. Maillart, who had founded his own construction firm in 1902, was unable to win any more bridge projects, so he shifted his focus to designing buildings, water tanks and other structures made of reinforced concrete and did not resume his work on concrete bridges until the early 1920s.

E His most important breakthrough during this period was the development of the deck-stiffened arch, the first example of which was the Flienglibach Bridge, built in 1923. An arch bridge is somewhat like an inverted cable. A cable curves downward when a weight is hung from it, an arch bridge curves upward to support the roadway and the compression in the arch balances the dead load of the traffic. For aesthetic reasons, Maillart wanted a thinner arch and his solution was to connect the arch to the roadway with transverse walls. In this way, Maillart justified making the arch as thin as he could reasonably build it. His analysis accurately predicted the behaviour of the bridge but the leading authorities of Swiss engineering would argue against his methods for the next quarter of a century.

F Over the next 10 years, Maillart concentrated on refining the visual appearance of the deck-stiffened arch. His best-known structure is the Salginatobel Bridge, completed in 1930. He won the competition for the contract because his design was the least expensive of the 19 submitted - the bridge and road were built for only 700,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to some $3.5 million today. Salginatobel was also Maillart’s longest span, at 90 metres and it had the most dramatic setting of all his structures, vaulting 80 metres above the ravine of the Salgina brook. In 1991 it became the first concrete bridge to be designated an international historic landmark.

G Before his death in 1940, Maillart completed other remarkable bridges and continued to refine his designs. However, architects often recognised the high quality of Maillart’s structures before his fellow engineers did and in 1947 the architectural section of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City devoted a major exhibition entirely to his works. In contrast, very few American structural engineers at that time had even heard of Maillart. In the following years, however, engineers realised that Maillart’s bridges were more than just aesthetically pleasing - they were technically unsurpassed. Maillart’s hollow-box arch became the dominant design form for medium and long- span concrete bridges in the US. In Switzerland, professors finally began to teach Maillart’s ideas, which then influenced a new generation of designers.

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Questions 27-33

Reading Passage 272 has seven paragraphs A-G.

From the list of headings below choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph.

Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

i.   The long-term impact
ii.   A celebrated achievement
iii.   Early brilliance passes unrecognised
iv.   Outdated methods retain popularity
v.   The basis of a new design is born
vi.   Frustration at never getting the design right
vii.   Further refinements meet persistent objections
viii.   Different in all respects
ix.   Bridge-makers look elsewhere
x.   Transport developments spark a major change

27. Paragraph A
28. Paragraph B
29. Paragraph C
30. Paragraph D
31. Paragraph E
32. Paragraph F
33. Paragraph G

Questions 34-36

Complete the labels on the diagrams below using ONE or TWO WORDS from the reading passage.

Write your answers in boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.

Academic Reading Sample 272 - Bridge design

Questions 37-40

Complete each of the following statements (Questions 11-14) with the best ending (A-G) from the box below.

Write the appropriate letters A-G in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

37 Maillart designed the hollow-box arch in order to

38 Following the construction of the Tavanasa Bridge, Maillart failed to

39 The transverse walls of the Flienglibach Bridge allowed Maillart to

40 Of all his bridges, the Salginatobel enabled Maillart to

A ......... prove that local people were wrong.

B ......... find work in Switzerland.

C ......... win more building commissions.

D ........ reduce the amount of raw material required.

E ........ recognize his technical skills.

F ........ capitalise on the spectacular terrain.

G ........ improve the appearance of his bridges.

ĐÁP ÁN, GIẢI CHI TIẾT và DỊCH HOÀN THIỆN ĐỀ THI IELTS READING:

The Revolutionary Bridges of Robert Maillart

27. Paragraph A/ x. Transport developments spark a major change

Giải thích:

Just as railway bridges were the great structural symbols of the 19th century, highway bridges became the engineering emblems of the 20th century. The invention of the automobile created an irresistible demand for paved roads and vehicular bridges throughout the developed world.

28. Paragraph B/ viii. Different in all respects

Giải thích:

He rejected the complex mathematical analysis of loads and stresses that was being enthusiastically adopted by most of his contemporaries. At the same time, he also eschewed the decorative approach taken by many bridge builders of his time. He resisted imitating architectural styles and adding design elements solely for ornamentation. Maillart’s method was a form of creative intuition.

Questions 34-36

Complete the labels on the diagrams below using ONE or TWO WORDS from the reading passage.

Write your answers in boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.

Academic Reading Sample 272 - Bridge design

34. columns

35. vertical walls

36. hollow boxs

Giải thích: đoạn C

His crucial innovation was incorporating the bridge’s arch and roadway into a form called the hollow-box arch, which would substantially reduce the bridge’s expense by minimising the amount of concrete needed. In a conventional arch bridge, the weight of the roadway is transferred by columns to the arch, which must be relatively thick. In Maillart’s design, though, the roadway and arch were connected by three vertical walls, forming two hollow boxes running under the roadway