1 . Over the course of more than 250 years, the US Postal Service has gone through many changes, including switching its focus from newspapers to package delivery service.
In the early 1830s, the Postal Service focused on delivering newspapers to keep Americans informed and connected. To keep newspaper subscriptions cheap and accessible, the Postal Service charged high prices for letter postage as much as a full-day’s wages. In order to help the expansion of the passenger transportation network in the new nation, the agency often shared the letter delivery with stagecoach lines. Later, it did the same for private steamboats and railroads, even airlines
But the competition for the letter delivery became so fierce that a wave of laws between 1845 and 1851 made the Postal Service the only letter-carrier and set aside an annual budget to support the agency. Helped by lowered rates, letters soon became the agency’s main business.
In 1863, the Postal Service began to experiment with home delivery, instead of just carrying letters from post office to post office. By the dawn of the 20th century, even remote farmers’ letters were dropped into their mailboxes. Since then, home delivery has become a “universal public service (UPS)” that every American deserves to receive at a low price.
By the early 20th century, the Postal Service had set a four-pound limit on mail: Anything heavier was supposed to be left to private companies. But the four largest private carriers secretly cooperated to charge confusing and often terribly high rates. In 1913, the Postal Service eventually took the parcel (包裹) service away from the private carriers.
Now the Postal Service’s only growing business is package delivery fed by the online shopping addictions. Since it is required by law to visit every household six days a week, the Postal Service now offers cheap rates to private companies like Amazon and FedEx to deliver their goods to our doorsteps. However, most Americans think that it is unfair to use taxpayer’s money to help such big private companies to deliver their goods.
1. What can we learn from the second paragraph?| A．Letter delivery was once a very profitable business. |
| B．The US was well connected by airlines in the 1820s. |
| C．The Postal Service charged high prices for newspapers. |
| D．In the 1830s. Americans had free access to newspapers. |
| A．Goods transportation. | B．Letter delivery. |
| C．Newspaper subscriptions. | D．Parcel services. |
| A．The private companies often charge terribly high rates. |
| B．The online-shoppers cannot receive their parcels on time. |
| C．The Postal Service usually leaves parcels in the local post offices. |
| D．The “UPS” is originally designed for non-commercial home delivery. |
| A．The Problems of the US Postal Service |
| B．The Postal Service’s Roles in the US History |
| C．A Brief History of the US Postal Service |
| D．The Main Functions of the US Postal Service |
2 . Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man. Wide spread use of written language would not have been possible without some cheap and practical material to write on. The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed and distributed. Together with the printing press, paper provided an extremely important way to communicate knowledge.
How much paper do you use every year? Probably you cannot answer that question quickly. In 1900 the world's use of paper was about one kilogram for each person a year. Now some countries use as much as 50 kilograms of paper for each person a year. Countries like the United States, England and Sweden use more paper than other countries.
Paper, like many other things that we use today, was first made in China. In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. The Egyptians wrote on a kind of material made of a water plant. Europeans used parchment for many hundreds of years. Parchment was very strong; it was made from the skin of certain young animals. We have learnt of the most important facts of European history from records that were kept on parchment.
1. What's the meaning for the word 'parchment'? ________| A．The skin of young animals. |
| B．A kind of paper made from the skin of certain young animals. |
| C．The paper used by European countries. |
| D．The paper of Egypt. |
| A．More jobs could be provided than before. |
| B．More people could be educated than before. |
| C．More books could be printed and distributed. |
| D．More ways could be used to exchange knowledge. |
| A．Around 1400. | B．Around 1900. | C．Around 400. | D．Around 900. |
| A．China. | B．Sweden. | C．Egypt | D．Japan. |
