阿拉伯酋长巨大“沙滩签名”太空可见

Every child has written their names on the beach at some point. But whereas most people's 'sandwriting' is washed away, one super-rich Arab sheikh has ensured that his doodles will last a little longer.

每个孩子都曾在沙滩上留名。尽管绝大多数“沙滩签名”都敌不过海水的冲刷，但一位超级富有的阿拉伯酋长就能保证他的签名停留得更久。

Making a sand: A satellite image from space shows the enormous letters of the name 'HAMAD' carved into the sand on Al futaysi island in Abu Dhabi
Hamad Bin¹ Hamdan Al Nahyan, 63, has scrawled² his name in sand on an island he owns with letters so big they can be seen from space.

The word 'HAMAD' measures 1,000 metres high and is a staggering（令人惊愕的） two miles long from the 'H' to the 'D' on the Al Futaisi island.

And rather than allow the writing to be washed away by the ocean, the letters actually form waterways that absorb the encroaching（渐渐渗入的） tide. The ruler's name is even visible on Google's map service.

Hamad dreamed up the idea and had his workmen toil³（辛苦工作） for weeks to craft the enormous piece of sand graffiti（涂鸦） . It is not known how much it cost to make.

However, the sheikh（酋长，族长） boasts a personal fortune second only to the Saudi king's.

Hamad, also known as the 'Rainbow Sheikh', is a member of the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family.

He is understood to have some 200 cars including seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted in different colours of the rainbow which he stores in a giant pyramid.

The Arab sheikh has a taste for doing things on a large scale. He built the world's largest truck - eight times the size of the Dodge⁴ Power Wagon⁵, with four bedrooms inside the cabin.

Hamad constructed a motor home in the shape of a giant globe which is exactly 1 millionth the size of the actual earth.

Alongside his lavish⁶ displays of wealth he has become a well-known philanthropist（慈善家） in medicine and supplied a complete kidney stone operating theatre to a public hospital in Morocco where he continues to fund its staff.