历史小径·世界史英语30篇（1）

9 / 30

工业城市：烟尘、汗水与变迁

Factories powered by steam engines drew workers from farms to cities like Manchester and Pittsburgh overnight.
Tenement housing crowded families into dark, airless rooms with no running water or sewage systems.
Children as young as six worked 14-hour shifts in textile mills, risking limbs in unguarded machines.
Cholera outbreaks spread fast where waste flowed into drinking water — killing thousands in London in 1854.
Reformers like Edwin Chadwick documented conditions, pushing governments to pass public health laws.
Trade unions formed secretly at first, demanding fair wages, shorter hours, and safer workplaces.
Gas lamps lit factory floors at night, extending labor — but also enabling evening classes for workers’ children.
Railways moved coal and goods efficiently, yet polluted air so badly that ‘pea-soup fog’ became common.
Cities grew faster than planning could keep up, creating chaotic streets, noise, and constant motion.
Industrialization brought wealth and innovation — but its human cost forced societies to rethink progress itself.