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Today a Ferris wheel is usually 40 to 60 feet tall． That seems very high when you are on the top looking down． But the first Ferris wheel was 264 feet high – taller than a twenty-story building! Can you imagine the view from the top of that?

The first Ferris wheel was built for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago． The people who planned the fair were looking for an attraction that would bring people to Chicago． George Ferris handed a drawing of a giant wheel that people could ride on． At first everyone laughed at his strange idea． But Mr． Ferris did not give up，  and finally the idea was accepted． The ride opened in June of 1893．

Today’s Ferris wheels have 12 to 16 seats，  which each carry 2 or 3 people． But that first one had 36 enclosed cars，  each holding 60 passengers． When filled，  it carried 2， 160 people． During that summer in Chicago，  about 1．5 million people rode the Ferris wheel．

After the fair the ride was moved to a nearby amusement park built especially to show off the wheel． In 1904，  it was moved again – to St． Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition． After the fair there，  the wheel stood unused． In 1906 it was finally sold to a company for scrap metal (废铁)．

Luckily a Chicago bridge builder，  W．E． Sullivan，  figured out how to make a smaller Ferris wheel that could easily be taken apart and put together． In 1906 he started the company that still makes many of the Ferris wheels used today．

But，  whenever you ride one，  remember that it all began with George Ferris’s strange idea!

1.How tall is a Ferris wheel today?

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2.What was the first Ferris wheel built for?

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3.What did people think of Ferris’s idea at first?

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4.How many people rode the first Ferris wheel during the summer in 1893?

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5.Compared with today’s Ferris wheels，  what was the first Ferris wheel like?

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