Who helps people travel?



Would you like to help people travel to exciting places? Then maybe a career in travel is for you! There are many different types of jobs in travel. Someday you may want to have a job like one of these:



Travel agents plan trips. They arrange airline flights and hotel rooms. Travel agents also arrange transport and sightseeing tours. They tell you when to catch a tour bus or how much the tickets will cost. They find out about fun things to do, places to see, and how to dress for the weather. They also provide maps and tour books to help you plan your trip.



With a computer terminal on one side and a phone on the other, airline reservation receptionists help people without a travel agent to choose the right flights. They help travellers to find flights that cost less or flights with no stops.



At hotels and motels, front-desk receptionists are responsible for collecting and giving out room keys. They also answer the phone and handle phone messages and mail for the guests.



Do you love food? Many fine chefs work in hotels, where they prepare fancy meals. Airline chefs prepare meals that are usually served on long flights.



Sometimes a travel career means working on water! If you enjoy boating, perhaps the job of cruise director is for you. Cruise ships are floating hotels. A cruise director plans fun activities on board the ship as well as on shore. For example, on the ship, people can take dance lessons or exercise classes, play board games, or watch a concert. On shore, people can shop, sight-see, or go to the beach. Chefs on cruise ships prepare delicious feasts for the passengers and get to travel the world at the same time!



Would you love to travel? Then perhaps you would like to be a flight attendant. Flight attendants serve food and drinks and help make people comfortable during a flight. They also help keep passengers safe in an emergency.



With lots of training, you could become an airline pilot. Pilots work out a plane's route and give the flight plan to the air-traffic controllers. They check the cockpit controls to make sure the plane is in good working order. Then they carry passengers safely where they want to go.



 



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Where do people worship?



For thousands of years, people have built places for prayer and worship. Jews build synagogues. Muslims build mosques. Christians build churches. Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs build temples.



The city of Jerusalem in Israel is sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The Western Wall is sacred to Jews because it is all that is left of their ancient holy temple. Jews come from all over the world to pray there. The wall is also called the Wailing Wall because Jews go there to recall their sufferings.



Near the Western Wall stands the Dome of the Rock. This building is sacred to Muslims because it covers the spot from which they believe the Prophet Muhammad rose to heaven.



A remarkable church is the Hagia Sophia, built from 532 A.D. to 537 A.D. as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey. It now serves as a museum. Inside, many walls are lined with marble and beautiful mosaics.



The centre of worship for all Muslims, or followers of Islam, is the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In the courtyard of the Great Mosque is a small building shaped like a box, called the Kaaba. The Kaaba holds the sacred Black Stone that Muslims believe God sent from heaven.



Muslims face in the direction of the Kaaba when they pray. Hindus in India consider a river sacred. Each year, thousands of Hindus visit such cities as Varanasi and Allahabad to bathe in the River Ganges and take home some of its water. Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges cleanses the body and spirit.



A world centre for Roman Catholic A people is Vatican City, which is located in Rome, Italy. Saint Peter's Basilica, also called St. Peter's Church, is there. It’s beautiful dome was designed by the great Italian artist Michelangelo.



The outside of the pyramid shaped Angkor Wat in Cambodia has richly carved sandstone and sculptured columns. The temple was built in the 1100's to honour the Hindu god Vishnu.



 



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What are some natural wonders?



Many of the world’s most amazing sights were not made by people. Nature has some of the best attractions.



Some of the most beautiful natural wonders on Earth feature spectacular rivers or waterfalls. For instance, the Amazon River in South America is so wide that in some places you can’t see the other side. It is the second longest river in the world. The Amazon starts in Peru and flows all the way across Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean.



Also in South America are the Iguacu Falls. This is actually an entire system of nearly 500 waterfalls that are separated by small islands. The falls form part of the border between Argentina and Brazil. The site is one of the most popular attractions in South America.



Wide beams of coloured light shine on rushing falling, crashing water at Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls is made up of two waterfalls, the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border and the American Falls on the U.S. side. Millions of people visit this site each year.



In Africa, the rushing waters of the Victoria Falls, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, sound like thunder. The fall's huge clouds of spray look like thick white smoke. At its highest point, this waterfall on the Zambezi River plunges 111 metres into a rocky canyon.



The world's largest desert is also a natural wonder. This desert, the Sahara, also lies in the continent of Africa. The Sahara is almost the size of the entire United States. Part of this desert is sand, but most of it is rock and gravel plains.



 



Sometimes, it's not the place that's a natural wonder-but what lives there. Tsavo (SAH voh) National Park in Kenya stretches for thousands of miles. But the wondrous part of the park is the animals-buffaloes, cheetahs, elephants, rhinoceroses, and zebras, for instance that roam freely there. With some wonders, it is the actual site that's amazing. In North America, the Colorado River has been cutting a giant canyon in Arizona for 6 million years.



This valley is so deep that people call it the Grand Canyon. In some places, the canyon is 1.6 kilometres deep and up to 29 kilometres wide.



Some natural wonders are underwater! A coral reef is made up of the hardened skeletons of tiny animals called coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, is the largest coral reef in the world. This chain of reefs extends for about 2,000 kilometres. People from all over the world come to see the amazing variety of fish that live there.



Some natural wonders are mountains. Mount Fuji is the pride of Japan and is sacred to many Japanese people.



The highest mountain in the world is also in Asia. Mount Everest, on the borders of Tibet and Nepal, is 8,850 metres high. Everest is called Chomolungma by the Tibetans and Sagarmatha by the Nepalese, both names basically mean "Goddess Mother of the Earth." Many Buddhists-followers of a major religion founded about 500 B.C. by a teacher who came to be known as Buddha-consider Mount Everest to be sacred.



 



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Which are the some amazing buildings?



Some buildings are so amazing that they have become as famous as the people who designed them. Here are some examples of famous buildings and their designers.



Have you ever seen a building that looked like an enormous golf ball? American designer Buckminster Fuller built one. It’s called a geodesic dome. Fuller wanted to express the needs of modern life in his buildings. His building was a large, lightweight structure that could be built quickly or taken down quickly.



Some buildings have familiar shapes such as squares, rectangles, and triangles. One structure, the entrance to the Louvre museum in Paris, France, looks like a large glass pyramid. It was designed by Chinese American architect I.M. Pei.



Some homes may look like castles, but others look like they are part of the scenery. American architect Frank Llyod Wright became known for building homes that seemed to grow out of the ground. He used earthy-brown colours and materials such as wood to make the houses seem to be part of nature.



Many architects have copied a house built around 1930 by French architect Le Corbusier. It is called the Villa Savoye, in Poissy, France. It is made of white concrete, stands on stilts, has a flat roof, and walls of windows.



 



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Why is the Central Plaza tower in Hong Kong so famous?



The third tallest building in Hong Kong, the Central Plaza skyscraper measures 374 metres and has 78 floors. Its home to the world's highest church.



At 374 metres tall and with 78 floors, Central Plaza is currently the third tallest building in Hong Kong, surpassed only by the International Commerce Centre and Two International Finance Centre. It is topped by a 102-metre mast.



Unlike the majority of buildings, Central Plaza is designed with a triangular shaped floor plan to optimise views of Victoria Harbour for 20% more of the office area.



The land upon which Central Plaza sits was reclaimed from Victoria Harbour in the 1970s. The 77,800 square feet (7,230 m2) site was auctioned off by the Hong Kong Government at City Hall Theatre on 25 January 1989. It was sold for a record HK$3.35 billion to a joint venture called "Cheer City Properties", owned 50 per cent by Sun Hung Kai Properties and 50 per cent by fellow real estate conglomerate Sino Land and their major shareholder the Ng Teng Fong family. A third developer, Ryoden Development, joined the consortium afterward. Ryoden Development disposed its 5% interest for 190,790 square feet of office space in New Kowloon Plaza from Sun Hung Kai in 1995.



 



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Which building became the world's tallest in 1931?



Being the first building in history to surpass 100 stories (102 stories) is an enormous feat in it of itself, however, that’s not the only notable fact about this New York skyscraper. The Empire State Building is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world and held the world’s tallest building record for nearly 40 years. It currently stands as the 32nd tallest building in the world and is the 5th tallest building in the United States. It stands at 1,454 feet or 443 meters. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIA’s list of “America’s Favorite Architecture.” You can see the Empire State Building in movies and TV such as King Kong, The Time Machine, Enchanted, Superman II, Independence Day, Fringe, How I Met Your Mother, and many more.



The Empire State Building became the tallest building in New York City and the world until the first World Trade Center towers passed it in 1970. When these towers were brought down in the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York. It stopped being New York's tallest building in 2012 when the new One World Trade Center was built.



The Empire State Building is at 350 Fifth Avenue. The building has its own ZIP Code, 10118. There is a big Art Deco lobby with shops at Fifth Avenue. People can also go to a lobby on 34th Street. The Empire State Building has 73 elevators.



The 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors have places where people can look at the city from high above. There is a steel mast on the top of the Empire State Building. The builders wanted to have an airship station on the roof, but the station was not opened. Today, people cannot go to the mast. The mast has a radio transmitter. The Empire State Building also lights up at night.



 



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Why are the Petronas Towers famous?



Petronas Twin Towers were once the tallest buildings in the world. Now the world’s tallest twin structures, the 88-storey buildings were designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates with both towers joined at the 41st and 42nd floors (175m above street level) by a 58 metre-long, double-decker Sky Bridge.



Standing 452 metres tall, the Petronas Twin Towers retained its world-title claim to fame until 2004 when Taipei's 101 was built, measuring 508 metres tall. Today, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (opened in 2010) retains the spot as the world’s tallest building. Located in the KL city centre, the Petronas Twin Towers’ architecture is Islamic-inspired and the buildings primarily house the corporate headquarters of the Petronas Company and other offices.



The towers were designed by Argentine architect César Pelli. A distinctive postmodern style was chosen to create a 21st-century icon for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Planning on the Petronas Towers started on 1 January 1992 and included rigorous tests and simulations of wind and structural loads on the design. Seven years of construction followed at the former site of the original Selangor Turf Club, beginning on 1 March 1993 with excavation, which involved moving 500 truckloads of earth every night to dig down 30 metres (98 ft) below the surface.



Due to the huge cost of importing steel, the towers were constructed on a cheaper radical design of super high-strength reinforced concrete. High-strength concrete is a material familiar to Asian contractors and twice as effective as steel in sway reduction; however, it makes the building twice as heavy on its foundation as a comparable steel building. Supported by 23-by-23 metre concrete cores and an outer ring of widely spaced super columns, the towers use a sophisticated structural system that accommodates its slender profile and provides 560,000 square metres of column-free office space. Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, and Petronas Philharmonic Hall, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.



 



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What are famous skyscrapers?



Superman may be able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, but most people are amazed when they see them from the ground. Skyscrapers first appeared during the late 1800’s in Chicago and New York, U.S.A. Builders could fit more offices in one area by building upward. The 10-storey Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built from 1884 to 1885, was the first skyscraper with a metal frame.



In the 1940’s and 1950’s, German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became famous for his glass and steel skyscrapers. His most famous structure in the Seagram Building in New York City, U.S.A. This skyscraper has bronze walls and bronze-coloured windows.



 



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What are National Monuments?



Around the world, thousands of buildings, statues, and parks helps us remember the past and honour people who made a difference in the world. These places are called national monuments.



One of the world’s famous monuments is the Statute of Liberty in New York Harbor, U.S.A. This majestic copper sculpture of a woman holding a torch towers 46 metres. A stairway inside the statue lets visitors look through Liberty’s crown. For immigrants who enter the U.S.A. through New York Harbor, the statue is a symbol of freedom and opportunity. The statue was a gift from France to the U.S.A. in 1885.



At Dinosaur National Monument in the U.S.A., tourists can see fossils of prehistoric reptiles. This national monument in Colorado and Utah also has canyons cut by the Green and Yampa rivers.



One of the greatest battles ever won by the British navy is remembered with a huge statue of Admiral Horaito Nelson in Trafalgar Square in London, England. Nelson was killed in the battle, but his statue has become one of the world’s famous landmarks.



In the centre of Hiroshima, Japan, a huge sculpture stands near the ruins of a building destroyed during a nuclear bomb attack. The ruined building, and the sculpture, known as the Atomic Bomb Dome, a part of Peace Memorial Park. The monument serves as a reminder of the atomic bomb that was dropped on the city during World War II.



 



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What are the ancient wonders of the world?



Did you know that there are monuments, tombs, and huge walls that were built hundreds or even thousands of years ago? Sometimes only small parts, or ruins, of these places remain. But you can still visit them today.



In England, tourists and scientists alike are amazed by Stonehenge, a group of huge, rough-cut stones set in circles. Scientists believe that ancient people built Stonehenge as a gathering place. Much of the monument is gone, but scientists think that when it was first built, an earth wall about 98 metres across circled it. Thirty blocks of grey sandstone stood like guards 4 metres above the ground.



Another wonder from long ago is the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt. Pyramids were built by Egyptians about 4,500 years ago as tombs for their kings. The Great Pyramid contains more than 2 million stone blocks.



In Peru, you can visit the ruins of Machu Picchu, once a walled city on the top of a mountain. It was built during the late 1400’s by the Inca and was probably a home for the Inca royal family.



The longest structure ever built is the Great Wall of China. Its main part stretches more than 8,850 kilometres. The wall was built to protect the northern Chinese border against enemies. Most of the wall that stands today was built in the 1400’s.



Another famous ruin is the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. The structure was completed in A.D. 90. From that time until 404, the Colosseum was a place where people could watch fights between gladiators who were slaves or paid fighters. Battles between men and wild animals and other events entertained Romans. The Colosseum was later abandoned. Many of its stones were used to build other structures.



The Colosseum was the largest outdoor theatre in ancient Rome. It could seat about 50,000 people. It is made of brick and concrete and is surrounded by 80 entrances.



The Parthenon is a famous ruin on top of a hill in Athens, Greece. It was constructed between 447 and 432 B.C. The Parthenon was a temple built to honour the Greek goddess Athena.



The Parthenon is shaped like a rectangle. It stands about 18 metres high. When the Parthenon was built, it had many brightly coloured statues and sculptured panels that showed stories from ancient Greece. Today, many of those statues are at museums in Athens and in London, England.



 



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What are modern wonders of the world?



People have built many incredible structures. Some soar to dizzying heights. Others cross huge lakes or rivers. Here are just a few modern wonders you can see around the world.



The Eiffel Tower is a huge iron tower in Paris. Built for a world’s fair in 1889, the tower rises 300 metres. You can take stairs or lifts to the top. The Eiffel Tower was the highest structure in the world for many years.



In Toronto, Canada, stands the CN Tower, one of the world’s highest free-standing structures. The communications and observation tower stands 553 metres high. It was completed in 1976.



In 1998, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opened in Japan. Its main suspension span, the world’s longest, stretches 1,990 metres across the Akashi Strait. The bridge took about 10 years to build.



The Channel Tunnel is an undersea railway that connects the United Kingdom with France. It opened in 1994. Fast electric trains carry cars and buses, people and goods through the tunnel, under the English Channel. The journey can take less than 35 minutes.



The Suez Canal waterway joins the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea in Egypt. It is 190 kilometres long and 19.5 metres deep. When the canal opened in 1869, ships travelling between England and India no longer had to sail around Africa. This shortened the trip by 8,000 kilomteres!



Another famous canal was built between North America and South America to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. When the Panama Canal was finished in 1914, it shortened the trip between New York City, New York and San Francisco, California, by 14,500 kilometres. Ships no longer had to sail around South America.



 



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Which kind of clothes people wear in hot climate?



You are midway through your soccer game, and the sun is beating down on you. Sweat drips off your forehead. To keep cool, you are wearing a T-shirt and short.



In warm places, people wear clothes made of a lightweight material, such as cotton or linen, to stay cool. Many of the clothes in warm regions are white or light-coloured, because these colours reflect the sun’s rays. Darker colours absorb heat from the sun, so they make a person feel hotter.



A man rides a long-legged camel across the Sahara. The sun burns bright and hot. This man is a Tuareg. He rears animals in the desert. A light blue robe covers him from shoulders to ankles. The loose folds of the robe shield him from the hot sun. They also let air flow around his body, helping to keep him cool. He has a long cloth wrapped around his head. Part of the cloth can be pulled over his mouth and nose to keep out blowing sand. Just as your lightweight clothes keep you cool in the hot sun, this man’s clothes protect him from the weather.



 



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Which kind of clothes people wear in cold climate?



Brrrrrrr, it’s cold outside! You have to go out and play. What do you wear to keep warm? Perhaps you wear a heavy coat, hat, scarf, gloves or mittens, and warm boots.



Some people must wear warm clothes most of the time. People in northern Canada, Greenland, and other places that are far north live in climates that are cold most of the year. In these cold regions, people wear heavy clothes made of fur or wool.



An Inuit man wears clothes made from animal skins. A hooded jacket, or parka, protects the top part of an Inuit’s body. Can you guess what he wears under his jacket? Another jacket! He also wears two pairs of trousers to protect his legs. The heat from his body stays between the two layers of clothes, and this helps to keep him warm. Thick fur mittens protect his hands, and he wears sealskin boots on his feet.



 



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What is an Airport?



The day has finally arrived! You are at the airport and about to board the plane that will take you on your dream holiday. There are many things you need to do at the airport before takeoff.



At the check-in counter, an airline worker checks you in, tells you which seat is yours, and gives you a boarding pass. Your luggage is put onto a moving belt. It carries your suitcase through rubber flaps in the wall to large bins that are wheeled to the plane. You are told which departure gate your plane will leave from.



At the security check, you and other travellers may also pass through a gate that has special machines. The machines make sure nobody is carrying anything dangerous.



At the departure gate, another airline worker takes your boarding pass. You are ready to board the plane.



You may have to walk through a tunnel or upstairs to get to the plane. When you enter the plane, a flight attendant helps you find your seat. There is a bin above your head in which to put your coats, small bags, or toys. Of course, you fasten your seat belt!



Suddenly the plane’s engines roar to life. The plane is moving! Slowly, at first, then faster and faster down a long paved path called a runway. Finally, you’re up in air! Sit back and enjoy the ride.



 



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Why do people fly?



Aeroplanes and helicopters are two ways to get far in a hurry. They carry people and goods thousands of metres above the ground.



The first thing you might notice about an aeroplane is its wings. When an aeroplane starts moving, the special shape of its wings helps it rise in the air and fly. Under the aeroplane wings are its engines. The fastest planes have jet engines that help them travel halfway around the world – from Chicago, Illinois, to Kolkata (Calcutta), India – in about 15 hours! Sometimes people can watch a film, listen to music or eat a meal or a snack while flying in the clouds.



Helicopters do not have the same type of wings that aeroplanes do.  A helicopter is powered by whirling blades that lift it into the sky. Helicopters are not as fast as most aeroplanes, but they can change directions and land more easily. They can fly forwards, upwards, and sideways. They can also hover, or stay in one place in the air.



The world’s largest passenger aeroplane, the Airbus A380, made its first commercial flight in 2007. The Airbus can seat more than 525 passengers.



 



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