Read the following passage about the history of the London Underground:
When the Metropolitan Railway opened in London in 1863, skeptics derided the venture as a 'utopian folly,' predicting that passengers would flee the claustrophobic, soot-choked tunnels. Critics did not merely doubt its financial viability; they questioned the psychological capacity of commuters to endure subterranean transit. Yet, this pioneering line did not merely survive; it fundamentally reshaped the metropolitan landscape. The underground railway acted as a civic engine, pulling the sprawling suburbs into a tight orbit around the city center. By transforming transit from a laborious journey into a routine commute, the railway redefined the very boundaries of urban life, proving that the future of the metropolis lay not in outward expansion, but in subterranean connection.
Which of the following best describes how the phrase 'civic engine' functions rhetorically in the passage?
- Adescribe the mechanical design and steam power that propelled the early trains.
- Bsuggest that the primary purpose of the railway was to alleviate the psychological stress of daily commuters.
- emphasize the railway's powerful and active role in unifying the city and its surrounding areas.Answer
- Dcontrast the soot-choked conditions inside the tunnels with the cleaner environment of the suburbs.