1. Bands
were playing and the gentlemen in hats
were preparing to make speeches about their great achievement. They
made
the first underground railway travel in the world — a distance of
almost four miles. It
was the year 1863 and on that first
historic day 30,000 Londoners
used this new and strange way of travel.
Now more than a hundred years later the London Underground
carries more
than a million passengers every day. The total number of passengers
carried by the London Underground each year
is enormous, and it
is
constantly growing. 2. In the early days the trains
were driven by steam locomotives which
burnt coal. It
is said that the train staff and porters'
asked permission to grow beards and moustaches — as an early form of smog mask.
Now the atmosphere "underground"
is considered even better than that
outside as germs
cannot grow in the dry air, and the trains, of course,
are electric.
__________________________________________were playing — Past Continuous Activewere preparing — Past Continuous Activemade — Past Simple Activewas — Past Simple Activeused — Past Simple Activecarries — Present Simple Activeis growing — Present Continuous Activewere driven — Past Simple Passiveburnt — Past Simple Activeis said — Present Simple Passiveasked — Past Simple Activeis considered — Present Simple Passivecannot grow — Present Simple Activeare — Present Simple Active