Passage 02分析和总结分析和总结.docx

Passage2

Arapidmeansoflong-distancetransportationbecameanecessityfortheUnitedStatesassettlement(新拓居地)spreadeverfartherwestward.Theearlytrainswereimpracticalcuriosities,andforalongtimetherailroadcompaniesmetwithtroublesomemechanicalproblems.Themostseriousonesweretheconstructionofrailsableto

beartheload,andthedevelopmentofasafe,effectivestoppingsystem.Oncetheseweresolved,therailroadwasestablishedasthebestmeansoflandtransportation.By1860therewerethousandsofmilesofrailroadscrossingtheeasternmountainrangesandreachingwestwardtotheMississippi.Therewerealsoregionalsouthernandwesternlines.

Thehighpointinrailroad

buildingcamewiththeconstructionofthefirsttranscontinentalsystem.In1862CongressauthorizedtwowesternrailroadcompaniestobuildlinesfromNebraskawestwardandfromCaliforniaeastwardtoameetingpoint,soastocompleteatranscontinentalcrossinglinkingtheAtlanticseaboardwiththePacific.TheGovernmenthelpedtherailroadsgenerouslywithmoneyandland.Actualwork

on this project began fouryears later. The CentralPacific Company, startingfrom California, usedChinese labor, while theUnion Pacific employedcrews of Irish laborers. Thetwo groups worked atremarkable speed, eachtrying to cover a greaterdistance than the other.In1869theymetataplacecalledPromontoryinwhatisnowthestateofUtah.Manyvisitorscamethereforthe

great occasion. There werejoyous celebrations all overthecountry,withparadesandtheringingofchurchbellstohonorthegreatachievement.The railroad was veryimportant in encouragingwestward movement. It alsohelpedbuildupindustryandfarming by moving rawmaterials and by distributingproducts rapidly to distantmarkets.Inlinkingtownsandpeople to on