1996年高考英语全国卷 - 阅读理解D

In the 19th century England people liked to go to the seaside. In those days, ladies wore long bathing dresses, and men wore bathing suits. Women did not walk about on the beach in their bathing dresses. They hired a bathing machine. A bathing machine was used for changing in, and for taking the bather down to the sea. It cost 2 pence to hire a machine and an attendant. When she had paid, the bather climbed up the back steps and got into the bathing machine. Then she changed into her bathing dress. When she had changed , the machine was pulled down to the sea. The bathing machine stopped in the water and the bather went down the front steps into the water. If she did not want to get into the sea, the attendant pulled her in.
19世纪的英国人喜欢去海边。那时候，女士穿长泳裙，男士穿泳衣，女人们不会穿着泳裙在海滩上走来走去。她们租一台洗浴机，用来换衣服，并且让洗浴者进入海里，租一台机器和一名服务员要花2便士。付了钱后，洗浴者爬上后面的台阶，进入洗浴机。然后换上了泳裙。换好后，机器被拖入海里，沐浴机停在水中，沐浴者走下前面的台阶，进入海水。如果她不想下海，服务员就会把她拉进去。