[1] In the mid-nineteenth century, the construction of the transcontinental railroad transformed the American West, linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. [2] The project relied heavily on the labor of thousands of Chinese immigrants, who faced dangerous working conditions and severe discrimination. [3] These workers blasted tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada and laid tracks across the desolate Great Basin. [4] Meanwhile, in the eastern United States, steam locomotives were rapidly replacing canal boats as the primary means of moving freight. [5] Despite their critical contributions, the Chinese workers were excluded from the celebratory photographs taken at Promontory Summit upon the railroad's completion.
The writer is considering deleting Sentence 4 from the paragraph. Should this sentence be kept or deleted?
- Akept, because it establishes a transition that connects the localized construction in the West with the broader national transport networks of the era.
- Bkept, because it provides critical historical background explaining why steam power was necessary to cross the Sierra Nevada.
- deleted, because it interrupts the paragraph's focus on the transcontinental railroad's construction and the experiences of its Chinese workers.Cevap
- Ddeleted, because it contradicts the paragraph's earlier assertion that the railroad successfully linked the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.