Fort Knox, is known as the place where America stores its gold. Located in Kentucky, the building was constructed in 1936 and has since stood for wealth and financial security of the United States.
The gold bullions at Fort Knox are stored in a central vault made out of concrete and steel, with walls that are four feet thick. It is protected by a heavy door weighing more than 20 tons. The door can only be opened by a combination known to a small group of staff members. Inside the vault, the gold bars are on shelves and racks.
Security at Fort Knox is among the best in the world, with advanced alarm systems and , armed guards. A special police force is responsible for guarding the facility, and to enter the vault you must pass several layers of security.
There are about 4,600 tons of gold stored at Fort Knox, most of America’s gold reserves. The value of this gold is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The building has been the scene of many Hollywood films. One of the most famous is the James Bond movie Goldfinger, in which a villain tries to contaminate the gold reserves held there.
Fort Knox
Image:Work permitOriginal author=Cliff, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons
Words
- advanced = very modern
- armed guard = a person who protects a place with a gun
- billion = a thousand million
- bullion = here: gold bar
- concrete = building material made of sand, small stones cement and water
- construct = build
- contaminate = here: chemicals make something dirty so you can’t use it any more
- enter = open, go into
- estimate = probably
- facility = building
- financial = about money
- guard = protect, defend
- layers = here: safety systems
- located = where something can be found
- rack = shelf with bars or hooks on which you can put things
- responsible = to be in charge or in control of; to make the decisions
- security = protect something from danger
- staff members = people who work there and are in charge of the building
- store = keep
- value = what something is worth
- vault = a room or building with thick walls, where money and other valuable things are kept and protected from being stolen
- villain = a bad character in a film
- wealth = being rich
- weigh = how heavy something is