VOA常速英语:New York Carousel Simulates Fish Swimming Patterns

NEW YORK— The millions of tourists who visit New York City have a new and exciting attraction to experience.

The fish flash before your eyes….they undulate…they change color….

“You never know what it’s going to do. You know it’s going to come back down and started to go. It’s going to go up and down. It’s really fun," said one boy.

It’s a merry-go-round for the modern age...an aquatic carousel called the SeaGlass. Thirty large, luminous fish up to three meters wide and four meters high. Fiber-optic lighting glows from within each fish, constantly changing the colors during the three-and-one-half minute ride.

The building itself is a shell design, with a steel frame, stainless steel roof and 46 monolithic glass windows. The area is called The Battery because it once housed cannons that protected the young city of New Amsterdam.

The Battery Conservancy began working on this $16 million project 10 years ago.

“There's never been these monumental fish figures that were molded and the way they’re light-filled and the way the dichronic disc, you know, undulate within the fish. This is all a one-of-a-kind," said Warrie Price, founder/president of The Battery Conservancy.

The architects tried something new by placing three turning rings inside the one large master ring.

“So what that gives you the tools to do is make people at certain points start to feel a little bit weightless. So is the feeling you have in water," said architect Claire Weisz.

And, it was Broadway and Olympic production designer George Tsypin, who developed the concept.

“The whole idea was to capture that wonder, that magic of the underwater world—in theory for children, but God knows. All adults will be riding this because we are all children," said Tsypin.

“It was amazing. It’s unlike any other carousel we’ve rode, and we’ve ridden pretty much every single one here in New York City," said a rider.

Admission to SeaGlass Carousel is $5 per ride. That money will offset some of the operating expenses of this new addition to New York City.