大学英语四级阅读的200篇: Unit 41 passage 1_大学英语阅读

大学英语四级阅读的200篇: Unit 41 passage 1

　　Still a railroad had not been laid from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast. Fame and fortune were destined to smile upon whatever railroad lines spanned the continent first, linking the Mississippi with the Pacific. In 1864 two railroads began building furiously toward each other. The Union Pacific Railroad was building westward across the Western Plains, across land populated only with Indians and buffaloes. The Central Pacific Railroad was building eastward from the Pacific Coast. They would meet somewhere; the more tracks either could lay the more free land it would receive. They finally did meet on May 10, 1869, in northern Utah. The tracks of the rival roads were fastened with spikes of gold and silver, and the two iron horses faced each other. Iron rails united the Far West and the East across the great width of our nation.

　　In 1883 the final spike was driven in western Montana to complete the first through track of the Northern Pacific. This track connected Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, with St. Paul, Minnesota. A little later other great continental railroads were built the Sante Fe, the Southern Pacific, and the Great Northern.

　　In 1898 electric locomotives were introduced. Many cities gave companies permission to lay tracks for electric trolleys in their streets. These street railways were soon extended to suburbs and then to other towns on inter-urban systems. This network of electric trains took business from the steam railroads, and the competition worried them.