Exercise 2B, page 68.0:01
The French Spider-Man.0:18
While no one is looking, Frenchman Alain Robert jumps up an office building and starts to climb the wall.0:33
He hangs from balconies, crawls along ledges, and grips the edges of the glass and concrete.0:39
There's no rope and no safety net.0:46
He's using only his bare hands.0:48
By the time he's halfway up, a crowd has gathered on the pavement below.0:51
After an hour, he reaches the top and the crowd sighs with relief.0:56
Alain has climbed over 85 of the tallest structures in the world, including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia.1:01
One of his first climbs was at the age of 12.1:12
He didn't have his flat keys, and his parents were out, but he was able to climb up the outside of the building, 7 stories high, and crawl through a window.1:15
Nowadays, he can manage 80 stories, but amazingly, Alain suffers from vertigo.1:25
He feels dizzy when he's up high.1:30
He has fallen 7 times, suffering dozens of broken bones, which has left him partly disabled.1:33
But this doesn't stop Alain.1:39
"I only think about what I can do, not what I can't do," he says.1:42
So why does he do it?1:47
Apart from raising awareness about world issues such as climate change, Alain wants people to see their environment differently.1:49
He says, "Maybe they think their building is ugly, this big tower with lots of glass, the opposite of a natural landscape.1:57
But for me, it's a kind of urban mountain.2:05
So I use the place where they work, and I make it a kind of wonderland.2:08
Everywhere I climb, I see people who are happy."2:12
After a climb, Alain often leaves in handcuffs.2:16
What he does is sometimes illegal, but most of the time he just gets a fine.2:19
The police say he can't climb public buildings, but the only thing that stops this daredevil is rain.2:24
When it's wet, Alain can't grip the slippery surfaces.2:31
In 2002, he got stuck on the 35th floor of London's Canary Wharf Tower when it started to rain.2:35
Alain risks his life every time he climbs a new building.2:42
His nickname may be Spider-Man, but he is no superhero.2:46
He's just an ordinary man living a very dangerous life.2:50
You can see videos of Alain in action on YouTube.2:55
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