So, in eighteen fifty-seven, D.C. Lawmakers in Congress（国会） in Washington wanted to make it possible to send mail all the way across the United States by land. Congress offered to help any company that would try to deliver mail overland to the West Coast. A man named John Butterfield accepted this offer. He developed plans for a company that would carry the mail—and passengers, too.

　　Congress gave John Butterfield six hundred thousand dollars to start his company. In return, he had to promise that the mail would travel from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, in twenty-five days or less.

　　It was not possible to travel straight through because of the Rocky Mountains and the deep snow that fell in winter. So the stagecoach（马车） would travel south from Saint Louis to El Paso, Texas, then over to southern California, then north to San Francisco. The distance was about four thousand five hundred kilometers.

　　Two hundred of these stations were built, each about thirty-two kilometers apart. The workers were to quickly change the horses or mules whenever a stagecoach reached the station. There could be no delay. Each stagecoach was to travel nearly two hundred kilometers a day.

　　One hundred stagecoaches were built and painted red or dark green. They were the most modern coaches that money could buy. They were designed to hold as many as nine passengers and twelve thousand pieces of mail. The seats inside could be folded down to make beds. Passengers either slept on them or on the bags of mail.

【2017届北京市高考英语一轮复习综合练习：36 （含解析）】相关文章：

★ 重庆市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮（精品）训练题（19）附答案

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：7（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：21（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：15（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：2（含解析）

★ 2016年高考英语第二轮复习策略与技巧

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：17（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：10（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：18（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：5（含解析）