雅思听力

🎧 Listening Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Today we're going to discuss the impact of the Industrial Revolution on urban development. Specifically, I want to focus on the role of railways in shaping city growth. Many historians agree that the expansion of railway networks in the mid-19th century led to the rapid development of suburbs, as workers could now commute longer distances to their jobs in city centers. However, this also caused a significant increase in property prices near stations, which pushed lower-income families further out. Interestingly, the introduction of streetcars in the 1880s had a similar but smaller effect on smaller towns, where the population grew by about 20 percent in the following decade.