VOA慢速英语2014 新摩天轮点亮华盛顿地区（在线收听）

New Ferris Wheel Lights Up Washington, DC 新摩天轮点亮华盛顿地区

Welcome to American Mosaic from VOA Learning English.  I'm June Simms.

Washington, D.C. now has a Ferris wheel. We will tell you all about.

Capital Wheel

Ferris wheels are very tall, rounded structures that move in circular motion from top to bottom.  They are commonly found at carnivals and amusement parks.  People ride them for fun although they don’t go really fast like a rollercoaster.

Ferris wheels also provide riders with a great look at their surroundings. A new Ferris wheel, known as the Capital Wheel, is doing just that in the Washington area.  ----- 

The structure stands 55 meters above the Potomac River.  It is one of the few observation Ferris wheels in the world that is right on the water.

Lashonda Johnson lives in the area. She says she got a new look at the city she knows well.  

“We saw the Capitol and all the historical museums, and traffic.  It was just peaceful.”

The National Harbor is home to the Ferris wheel.  The harbor is just outside Washington, in Oxon Hill, Maryland.  It is a new public center with shops, restaurants and hotels, and, now, a Ferris wheel.

The wheel has 42 cars, or gondolas, with heating and cooling systems.  It can hold 336 riders. Kent Digby is operations director for the National Harbor.  He says the Ferris wheel is very different from an amusement park ride. The idea is for people to enjoy some calming moments.

“It’s very smooth, so you really, if you weren’t paying too much attention, you wouldn’t really notice that you’re moving and that’s all part of trying to make people comfortable and make sure that they understand that they’re very safe.”

The cost is $15 per person for a 15-minute ride.

Mark Poliquin, who came from the state of Connecticut with his family, says the ride was worth it.

“Top of the line, air conditioned cabs, they’ve got music playing.”

The $15 million machine was built in the United States.  Some of the parts are from Germany, and the gondolas came from Switzerland.  It is similar to the London Eye Ferris wheel in Britain’s capital.

The London Eye was the world's tallest Ferris wheel until 2006.  Now, that honor belongs to the High Roller Ferris wheel that recently opened in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It stands 167 meters in the air. The next tallest is the Singapore Flyer in Singapore, followed by the Star of Nanchang in China.

Bulgarian Yavor Todorov says his children wanted to go on a ride.  But he admits he had a good time as well.  

“It’s exciting.  You can see the whole Washington, D.C.”

Each gondola seats eight people, except for one special V.I.P. car which holds four.  There, for $50 per person, you can bring a bottle of wine.

“I call it our little Ferrari.  It’s all red and black leather, and it’s pretty slick with wine coolers and its own pop-up TV and I’m sure more than one person will get engaged on a ride.”

Kent Digby says the light show on the Ferris wheel is another treat. He says the lights can be made to go on and off in thousands of different orders.   

“1,600,000 million lights and they can light up in any different color of the rainbow.”

The Capital Wheel is open every day.  Up to 800,000 people are expected to take the ride the first year.

一个被称为“首都之轮“的新摩天轮正在照亮着华盛顿，它是世界上为数不多的观光摩天轮之一。

高出波拖马可河面55米，可以看到华盛顿的全景。

当地居民Lashonda Johnson说：“登上这个新的摩天轮，能直接眺望到所有熟悉的地方，比如国会大厦，所有的历史博物馆和交通要道等，它显示一片和平”。

此摩天轮仅座落于华盛顿外的奥克山上马里兰州国家海港城，是一个有商店，饭店和酒店的住宅区。还有42艘有暖气和空调的贡多拉船，可容纳336人。运营总监 Kent Digby说：“我们的想法是让人们在这个旅程中可以放松和享受，这些船是非常平稳的，如

你不太注意的话，感觉不到它在移动，尽我们所能让人们感到舒适，明白自己是很安全的。”

整个旅程15分钟，票价每人15美元。

Mark Poliquin和他的家人从康乃狄克州来旅游，他说“船上有一流的商品，空调还有音乐演奏，这个价格非常值得。”

耗资1500万美元的胜地在美国建成了，但有一些零件是德国产的，还有贡多拉船是从瑞士购买的。这不禁让人想起伦敦眼摩天轮，到2006年为止，是美国最高的一座摩天轮，现今167米高，最近在拉斯维加斯开放了有特性的高辊，仅次于新加坡摩天观景轮和中国南昌之星摩天轮。

中国旅行者Qumae Yang 很喜欢在这个首都之轮上观景，她说：“站在这里观看风景，真是太漂亮了”。

保加利亚人Yavor Todorov 说他的小孩子还想继续游玩一下，他也承认度过一个很好的时光“真是太兴奋了，你可以看到整个华盛顿。”

每条贡多拉船可以坐8个人，除了一个特别的VIP车能坐4个人外。

在那里每人花50美元可以带一瓶酒。

运营总监 Kent Digby说：“我们叫它是我们的小法拉利，所有的都是红色和黑色的皮革，像冷酒器一样光滑，有自动弹出的TV，我确定不止一个人在这里订婚；还有一种款待是在摩天轮上的灯光秀，可以编程成千上万的不同序列，超过160万不同颜色的灯像彩虹一样照亮着。”

“首都之轮“每天开放，预计第一年有80万游客。