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!

When I was a child, I lived in a small house with my parents. We lived in a 1 . There wasn't a 2 bedroom or living room for my family. All of us stayed in a small room. The bathroom and the kitchen were public (公共的). Several families 3 one. The life was a little difficult, but I was happy.

I studied in a primary school there. The teachers were 4 with me. Maybe I was kind of naughty (调皮的) at that time. But I was friendly. At that time, 5 a movie in the cinema was really expensive. I always saved money for a long time 6 to watch a movie. Pocahontas (《风中奇缘》) was my favourite at that time. I watched it many times, but I never got 7 with it.

Now I don't 8 with my family now. I don't need to save money just for a movie. And 9 is as strict as my teachers in the primary school. Are these good 10 ? Maybe they are. But sometimes I just want to go back to the time when I was in the village.

Lucy is 1 8-year-old girl. Her parents2 in Beijing. And she doesn't have any sisters 3 brothers. So she lives with her grandparents. 

Every morning, Lucy's grandfather, Mr. Lin, takes breakfast to her room. He knows Lucy 4 likes Beijing food. Lucy likes her grandfather and wants 5 something to thank him. 

One morning, Mr. Lin takes breakfast to 6 room. But he can't find his granddaughter. "Lucy,7 are you?" "I'm here, in the kitchen," Lucy says and 8 a hamburger with some vegetables to her grandpa. "Dear Grandpa, thanks for your breakfast. And this hamburger is made for you. It's good9 your health."

What a10 girl!

Claire got a clothes store from her sister a few days ago. As she was busy on weekdays, she had {#blank#}1{#/blank#} how she ran the store. One day, an old woman came in with an empty {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, She looked at things here and there. But she didn't buy anything. When Claire went up and asked if she could help, the old woman said, "Well,I like these things, but I don't have much money." "The old woman looks poor , Maybe I should help her," thought Claire. So she {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to let the old woman have the clothes for free. News spread quickly about the"free clothes store". More and more people started coming in. They all said they were poor and asked to have things for free. Claire simply believed them and sent them what they wanted. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . there was nothing left in the store.

 It's a good thing to help others when they are really poor or in great need. But we must also be {#blank#}5{#/blank#} . Use your mind to decide who really needs help.

I walked into the Huddle House Restaurant in Brunswick, Georgia and sat down at the table. I picked up the menu and was to order something for breakfast.

"Excuse me,"

I looked up and 1 a nice-looking woman standing before me.

"Is your name Roger?"2 asked.

"Yes," I answered, feeling rather surprised as I had never seen her before.

"My name' s Barbara and my 3 is Tony," She said, pointing to a middle-aged man sitting alone at the table by the window. He was 4 and weak.

"Tony White, from Landon School in Jacksonville, Florida," she added.

I looked at that man for a few seconds 5 I didn't know him.

"I'm really sorry. The name doesn't ring the bell," I said.

 She walked back, began 6 with her husband and once in a while I saw her turn around and look at me.

I ordered breakfast and a cup of 7 , sitting there, trying to remember who this   Tony was. "I 8 know him, "I thought to myself. "He knows me for some-reason." I picked up the coffee cup. All of a sudden(突然), it came to me like a flash af lightning.(一道闪电)

"Tony, the bully(霸凌者), the bad boy!" I could 9 believe (相信) my eyes. "My God! He's so thin now. Not the big boy that I 10 from back in 1997."

 Everything came up to my mind. The time this 11 boy had made fun of my big ears in front of the girls in my class, and the time this big bully had pushed.(推) The against the walls in the hallway just to make himself 12 a big man to all other students.

"I am sorry, Roger," Tony rolled by me in the wheelchair (轮椅), being pushed by his wife, raising his thin, shaking hand. "I am so sorry for 13 that I did to you."

"I'm... I'm er..." I didn't know 14 to say to him.

 After a few months, I got a letter from Barbara. Tony was 15 . Tony had been a fireman and had been seriously wounded(受伤) in a task.

 How I regretted(后悔) for not saying something to him but I no longer had the chance!