阅读理解
The first organized system for sending messages began in
Egypt around 1500 B.C. This system developed because the pharaohs frequently
needed to send messages up and down the Nile River in order to keep their
empire running smoothly. Later, the Persians developed a more efficient system
for sending messages using men and horses. Messages carriers rode along the
road system stretching from one end of the Persian Empire to the other. Along
these roads, fresh men and horses waited at special stations to take and pass
along any messages that needed to be sent. The stations where riders passed
messages back and forth were built 23 kilometers apart, so the men and horses
were able to travel quickly between them. The Romans later took up his idea and
improved it by using a more advanced and extensive road system.
In China, however, Kublai Khan had built up his own system
for delivering messages. This system worked in the same basic way as the Roman
system. The difference was that Kublai Khan kept 300,000 horses along the roads
of this delivery lines. There were over 10,000 stations where a message would
be passed from one rider to another with a fresh horse. In this way, Kublai
Khan could receive messages from anywhere in the country in only a few days.
It was not until the 1500s that a well-organized postal
system appeared again in Europe. One family, the von Taxis family, gained the
right to deliver mail for the Holy Roman Empire and parts of Spain. This family
continued to carry mail, both government and private, throughout Europe for
almost 300 years.
In 1653, a Frenchman, Renouard de Velayer, established a
system for delivering post in Paris. Postal charges at that time were paid by the
recipient, but de Velayer's system was unique by allowing the sender to pre-pay
the charges, in a similar way to the modern stamp. Unfortunately, de Velayer's
system came to an end when jealous competitors put live mice in his letter
boxes, ruining his business. Eventually, government-controlled postal systems
took over from private postal businesses, and by the 1700s government ownership
of most postal systems in Europe was an accepted fact of life.
The thing that all these early systems had in common was
that they were quite expensive for public use, and were intended for use by the
government and the wealthy. However, in 1840, a British schoolteacher named
Roland Hill suggested introducing postage stamps, and a postal rate based on
weight. This resulted in lowering postal rates, encouraging more people to use
the system to stay in touch with each other, His idea helped the British postal
system begin to earn profits as early as 1850. Soon after that many other
countries took up Mr. Hill's idea. And letter writing became accessible to
anyone who could write. Today, the Roland Hill awards are given each year to
"encourage and reward fresh ideas which help promote philately"(stamp
collecting).
