Special Christmas tree in Canberra - level 3
It may not be Christmas just yet, but Australia certainly has something to celebrate. The country's broken the Guinness World Record for the most lights on an artificial Christmas tree. This 22-meter tree has a total of 518,838 twinkling lights – yes, just over half a million, beating the 36-meter Japanese tree that it set a new benchmark earlier this month.
Hundreds gathered in Canberra's town center for the confirmation it had broken the record that had been held for five years by Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.
“We weren’t sure whether we would get the record. Guinness World Records flew in just to adjudicate our record tonight. Everything went according to plan and I was so relieved when the lights went on and the Guinness World Record representative said we have the new world record.”
Various volunteers, including electrical and structural engineers, were called in to help create the masterpiece all in aid of charity.
Difficult words: artificial (not natural), twinkling (shining), gather (to meet in large numbers), whether (if), adjudicate (to make a formal judgement), volunteer (a person who does something without being paid for it), aid (help).