Those who welcomed the railway saw it as more than a rapid and comfortable means of passing. They actually saw it as factor in world peace. They did not foresee that the railway would be just one more means for the rapid movement of aggressive armies. None of them foresaw that the more we are together, the more chances there are of war. Any boy or girl who is one of a large family knows that.
Whenever any new invention is put forward, those for it and those against it can always find medical men to approve or condemn. The anti-railway group produced doctors who said that tunnels would be most dangerous to public health. They would produce colds, catarrhs （粘膜炎）and consumptions （肺癌）.The deafening noise and the glare of the engine fire would have a bad effect on the nerves. Further, being moved through the air at a high speed would do grave injury to delicate lungs. In those with high blood-pressure, the movement for the train might produce apoplexy （中风）.The sudden plunging of a train into the darkness of a tunnel, and the equally sudden rush into full daylight, would cause great damage to eyesight. But the pro-railway group was of course able to produce equally famous medical men to say just the opposite. They said that the speed and swing of the train would equalize the circulation promote digestion, tranquilize the nerves, and ensure good sleep.
The actual rolling-stock was anything but comfortable. If it was a test of endurance to six for four hours outside a coach in rain, or inside in dirty air, the railway offered little more in the way of comfort. Certainly the first-class carriages had cushioned seats; but the second-class had only narrow bare boards, while the third-class had nothing at all; no seats and no roof; they were just open trucks so that third-class passengers gained nothing from the new mode except speed.
A writer in the early days of railways wrote feelingly of both second-and third-class carriages. He made the suggestion that the directors of the railways must have sent all over the world to find the hardest possible wood. Of the open third-class trucks he said that they had the peculiar property of meeting the rain from whatever quarter it came. He describe them as horizontal shower-baths, from whose searching power there was no escape.
1.All boys and girls in large families know that （ ）.
2.According to those who welcomed the railway, the railway itself should include all the following except（ ） .
3.According to the anti-railway group, all the followings are true but（ ） .
4.We may safely conclude that（ ）
5.What is the tone of the passage?
