Have you ever ridden a Ferris wheel lately? Can you imagine the flying feeling as you are pulled up to the top and then moved down to the bottom quickly again?

    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一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(废金属).

    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!

Graham Stookey is an 18-year-old high school student. He plays the guitar very well. He is always interested in taking（A）____ lessons, but he didn't start until he was 13 years old. He took lessons of electric guitar and the other part of music for two years. He was kind of shy. He didn't have many friends, and kids made fun of him at school. In 2007,his dad took him to John Mayer's concert. At the concert, John Mayer played the acoustic（原声的）guitar. It sounded much more beautiful than the electric guitar. A day later, he cut the hair and picked up an acoustic guitar.（B）He started writing music and learning how to sing. He loves music very much.（C）因此练习吉他真的不是一件困难的事情。He wrote a song Jonah. It is about his brother. He's hoping to write more good songs.

When Grace Berbig was 7 years old, her mom became ill. Every day, Grace and her two younger sisters would write letters 1 of messages of love. These letters brought joy to their mom.2 their mother passed away three years later. After that, their father often reminded them that3 was a choice, and that it was their job to turn the heartbreaking(令人心碎的) event into4 positive(积极的). 

When Grace got into high school, she5 many organizations to offer help to others, but she6 felt like she was doing enough. "I want to7 a special way for people to help. Everyone can be a part of it, no matter 8 they have money or not. "

In October, 2018, Grace9 a club named Letters of Love at her high school to support children in fighting serious illnesses 10 letter-writing and craft-making. 

To her surprise, more than 100 students11 at the first club meeting. Letters of Love grew so fast that Grace had to raise money online to help cover the 12 of craft-making materials the next year. 

Now, Letters of Love has grown to more than 25 13 with over 1, 000 members. They 14 support for more than 60, 000 patients in children's hospitals around the world. 

Grace took a gap year(间隔年)before she started college so that she could focus on Letters of Love and15 other projects, including publishing a children's book. 

"The goal of the book is to tell children that they are never too young to change the world, "Grace said. 

Hello, my name is Laura. Nice 1 you. Look! This is a photo 2 my family. You can see eight people in it. 3 are my grandparents. They are my4 parents. They are in the middle of the photo. This is my father. 5 name is Eric. This is my mother, Linda. My parents have four kids(孩子), two sons 6 two daughters. Dale and Paul 7 my brothers. The girl in red is my sister Jenny.8 that woman in a white skirt(裙 子)?9 is my aunt. She's my father's sister. My dog is in 10 photo, too. What color is it? It's black.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. we Chinese have {#blank#}1{#/blank#} for over 2,000 years. It's {#blank#}2{#/blank#} of the three most important lunar festivals in China. The Dragon Boat Festival takes {#blank#}3{#/blank#} on the 22^th of June this year.

Throughout the years, many stories have been told about the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} of this festival. Among them, the most famous one is about Qu Yuan, a well- known scholar in ancient China. He not only wrote good {#blank#}5{#/blank#} but also gave suggestions to the king. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} he devoted(贡献) himself to his {#blank#}7{#/blank#} , the king didn't like him. This great person drowned(溺水) himself in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month because his Chu State fell to Qin State. Local people tried to save him or find {#blank#}8{#/blank#} body, but they didn't succeed. Qu Yuan was later considered as a {#blank#}9{#/blank#} hero. To remember him, every fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people beat drums and go boat racing on the river as they once did to keep fish away from his body.

Dragon boat racing is one of the most important customs Chinese people practice to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. This activity is held {#blank#}10{#/blank#} in China's southern and southeastern areas where there are lots of rivers and lakes.