VOA · As It Is
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed3:392025-03-14public domain
As It Is is VOA Learning English's daily news magazine. Each report covers a current story in clear, learner-speed English with a controlled vocabulary — the closest thing to real news broadcasts that intermediate learners can fully digest, and ideal raw material for dictation.
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01The Brooklyn Bridge is one of New York City's most famous and beloved landmarks.
02The main span extends about 485 meters across the East River to connect the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
03The Brooklyn Bridge was once the longest suspension bridge in the world.
04Yet it still serves as a symbol of progress, innovation, and New York City's cultural influence.
05John A.
06Roebling was the designer and chief engineer of the bridge.
07But Roebling did not live to see the project completed.
08The Library of Congress notes that a workplace accident caused Roebling to get a tetanus infection shortly after building began in 1869.
09He died in July of that year.
10Work on the bridge was very dangerous.
11Few records were kept on such events.
12But historians say between 20 and 30 men died as a result of the building project.
13Some died from falling off the bridge or from being struck by equipment.
14Others died or were injured from working in underground structures called caissons.
15These extended below the river and surface of the earth.
16The workers would get a decompression sickness called the bends.
17Roebling's son and partner, Washington A.
18Roebling, became chief engineer after his father's death.
19However, Washington Roebling soon became disabled with the bends.
20He continued the work from his home.
21His illness, as well as other workplace accidents, slowed completion of the project.
22The Brooklyn Bridge finally opened on May 24, 1883.
23Over the years, the bridge became a symbol of New York City.
24Writers, artists, photographers, and filmmakers all have found the bridge to be an object of interest.
25The Brooklyn Bridge is still a beautiful structure.
26It has tens of thousands of suspension wires that spread across and up and down from the deck to the towers on either side.
27From a distance, the wires look like the stringed musical instrument called the harp.
28The bridge also still sees heavy use every day.
29On its website, the New York Department of Transportation says that as of 2022, 107,000 vehicles, 4,000 cyclists, and 32,000 people on foot travel over the bridge every day.
30I'm John Russell.
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