夕阳下的大白鲨过山车，美国新泽西州 The Great White Roller Coaster at Wildwood, New Jersey (© John Van Decker/Alamy)

夕阳下的大白鲨过山车，美国新泽西州 The Great White Roller Coaster at Wildwood, New Jersey (© John Van Decker/Alamy)

惊险之旅 Thrill ride

The Great White Roller Coaster

To really get the feel for today's photo, stop what you're doing, put your hands in the air, and imagine yourself plunging downhill at 50 miles an hour. Screaming is optional. We're waiting in line at Morey's Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey, for our ride on The Great White. A hybrid wooden and steel coaster, it's been in operation since 1996 and reaches its highest point 110 feet above the ground. Coaster enthusiasts point out the ride's dip under the pier shortly after the start as one of its highlights. It's also noted for a portion of the ride swinging out over the nearby beach.

Roller coasters have come a long way since their early days beginning in the 17th century as Russian sled rides. Eventually called Russian Mountains, those original rides were just tall, wooden ramps covered in ice. When the concept made its way to much warmer France, the sleds made their way across the tracks on wooden rollers, hence the name 'roller coasters.' Coasters saw another advancement in the 1800s when a Pennsylvania mining company built a downhill gravity railroad to transport coal. Its train cars held double duty by giving thrill rides to tourists during downtime. By 1919, coasters had entered their 'golden age' with fully formed rides all over the world. The desire to experience greater heights and faster drops mean the sky's the limit when it comes to coaster design. These days, in the United States alone, thrill seekers take roughly 1.7 billion rides per year across more than 800 coasters.

大白色过山车

为了真正了解今天的照片，停止你正在做的事情，把手举到空中，想象你以每小时50英里的速度下山。尖叫是可选的。我们在新泽西州Wildwood的Morey‘s Piers排队等候乘坐大白鲨。这是一款木制和钢制的混合过山车，自1996年起投入使用，最高点离地110英尺。过山车爱好者指出，在出发后不久，过山车在码头下的下沉是其亮点之一。它还以一部分骑行在附近的海滩上摇摆而闻名。

过山车从17世纪开始作为俄罗斯雪橇运动以来已经走过了漫长的道路。这些最初的游乐设施最终被称为俄罗斯山脉，它们只是覆盖着冰的高大木质坡道。当这个概念传播到气候暖和得多的法国时，雪橇在木制滚轮上穿过轨道，因此得名“过山车”19世纪，当宾夕法尼亚州的一家矿业公司建造了一条下坡重力铁路来运输煤炭时，过山车迎来了另一个进步。它的火车车厢承担着双重职责，在停工期间为游客提供惊险刺激的乘坐体验。到1919年，云霄飞车已进入其“黄金时代”，全世界都有完整的云霄飞行设施。想要体验更高的高度和更快的下降速度，这意味着在过山车设计方面，天空是极限。如今，仅在美国一地，寻求刺激的人每年就要乘坐超过800辆过山车，约17亿次。