国际英语资讯:U.S. celebrates 150th anniversary of first transcontinental railroad, hails Chinese workers_时事

国际英语资讯:U.S. celebrates 150th anniversary of first transcontinental railroad, hails Chinese workers

The White House issued a presidential message Friday on the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad, saying the railroad catalyzed the country's development, empowered greater settlement of the American West, and expanded prosperity from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

"Roughly 12,000 workers of Chinese ancestry worked to dig out a particularly challenging section. Through blizzards and other treacherous weather, they blasted and chiseled 15 tunnels through the hard granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains," said the presidential message.

Two locomotives met at the Golden Spike National Historical Park on Friday to recreate the scene 150 years ago - "Jupiter" owned by Central Pacific Railroad and "No. 119" of Union Pacific.

Governor of Utah Gary Herbert said the completion ceremony of the transcontinental railroad 150 years ago was the first mass media event that was transmitted across the whole nation.

"It is greatly important we gather again today at the same spot to commemorate that moment," he said, adding that the railroad has transformed Utah from an isolated post to a crossroad of the West.

"While we reflect the impact of the railroad, we should also look to the future," Herbert said. He encouraged people of Utah to dream big, and remember great things can be envisioned and accomplished through hard work, dedication, innovation and collaboration.

Connie Young Yu, a Chinese American writer, historian, and lecturer whose ancestor was one of the Chinese railroad workers, considers the achievement of Chinese workers "epic."