The History of the Early Mail郵件的早期歷史

顧光才

Now it is very easy for you to get in touch with your friends or relatives. You have many choices. You can write to them， call them or send an e-mail to them. And your letters， telephone calls or e-mails will get to your friends or relatives very quickly. But in early days， no one could be sure when or where the mail would arrive.

There was once a post office under a rock at the southern tip of Africa. In the old days， if people wanted to go to India from England， they had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope1. The journey was very stormy and dangerous. It took six long months. Sailors often wished to send letters home， but they seldom met the ship going back to England. So at the cape the sailors would go ashore. They went to a special large stone. On the stone was scratched2 the words “Look here under for letters”. They would leave their letters there， for they knew the next homeward ship would stop and pick them up.

There was another special post office in the state of Washington. It was a stump3 of a huge cedar4. Settlers needed a place for the mail carrier to leave their letters. Their houses were so widely scattered5 that the mail carrier couldnt reach all of them. So the settlers found a tree that stood where several roads crossed. They cut the tree down ten feet from the ground， hollowed6 it out， and covered it with a roof. Inside， they nailed a row of wooden boxes. Each box was written with a familys name. The mail carrier could leave letters there for everyone for miles around.

For the first few years after the English colonists7 came to America， there was no regular postal service. People gave their letters to any traveler who happened to the right direction. When the traveler reached the town where the letters were going， he stopped at an inn8 and left the letters there. Only when the person the letters were addressed to happened to stop at the inn， they could receive the letters.

After many years， regular mail carriers appeared. They went from one big town to another on horseback. They traveled only by day. So it still took many weeks for a letter to reach the person the letter would be sent to.

About two hundred years ago， Benjamin was made postmaster for all the colonies9. The situation changed greatly. He set up many post offices. He ordered his postmen to travel by night as well as by day. So the letters traveled more quickly than before.

Today an airmail letter can travel across the world in a very short time. A modern post office handles more mails a day than the carriers in the colonies in a whole year.

現(xiàn)在你和你的親朋好友取得聯(lián)系非常容易。你有多種選擇，你可以寫(xiě)信、打電話或發(fā)電子郵件給他們。而且你的信、電話、電子郵件都會(huì)很快到達(dá)你的朋友那里。但是在早期，沒(méi)人知道他們寄出的信何時(shí)何地才能到收信人手里。

在非洲南端的一塊巖石下曾有一個(gè)郵局。在古時(shí)候，如果人們要想從英國(guó)到印度去的話，他們必須繞道好望角。旅途中常有風(fēng)暴，很危險(xiǎn)，路上要花長(zhǎng)達(dá)六個(gè)月的時(shí)間。水手們經(jīng)常想寄封信回家，但他們很少碰到回英國(guó)的輪船。于是，船到好望角他們就上岸，他們到一個(gè)特殊的大石頭那兒去。在這塊石頭上刻著幾個(gè)字：在下面找信。他們就把信放在那兒，因?yàn)樗麄冎老乱惶嘶丶业拇瑫?huì)在這里?？?，然后取走信。

在華盛頓州還有一個(gè)特殊的郵局。它就是一棵大雪松的樹(shù)樁。那兒的居民需要一個(gè)讓郵遞員投放信件的地方。因?yàn)樗麄兊募揖幼〉眠^(guò)于分散，郵遞員無(wú)法把信件送到每一戶人家。居民們發(fā)現(xiàn)在好幾條路的交叉口處有一棵樹(shù)。于是，他們把樹(shù)從距地面十英尺的地方砍斷，把樹(shù)干挖空，在上面搭一個(gè)頂，里面釘上一排木盒子，每個(gè)木盒子上都寫(xiě)上一個(gè)家庭的名字。這樣郵遞員就把方圓好幾里的居民的信投放到那兒。

英國(guó)殖民者到達(dá)美國(guó)的最初幾年都沒(méi)有定期的郵政服務(wù)。人們把信給碰巧要去他們寄信的地方的旅行者。當(dāng)旅行者到了那地方，他們就在一家小客棧停下，然后把信留在那兒。只有當(dāng)收信人碰巧經(jīng)過(guò)這家小客棧時(shí)，他們才能收到信。

許多年以后，固定的郵遞員出現(xiàn)了，他們騎馬從一個(gè)大城鎮(zhèn)到另一個(gè)大城鎮(zhèn)送信。他們只在白天趕路，所以信還得好幾個(gè)星期才能送到收信人手中。

大約在兩百年前，本杰明當(dāng)選為所有殖民地的郵政局長(zhǎng)。情況有了很大改觀。他建立了許多郵政局，并且命令他的郵遞員不分白天黑夜地趕路。這樣信比以前郵遞得快多了。

如今一封航空信在很短的時(shí)間里就能跨越全球。一家現(xiàn)代化的郵政局一天處理的信件要比殖民地時(shí)期的郵遞員一年送的信還要多。

1. cape n. 海角；岬 Cape of Good Hope 好望角

2. scratch v. 劃傷；劃出痕跡

3. stump n. （被砍下的樹(shù)的）樹(shù)樁

4. cedar n. 雪松

5. scatter v. （使）散開(kāi)，（使）分散

6. hollow v. 挖空（某物），變空

7. colonist n. 殖民者

8. inn n. 小旅館，客棧

9. colony n. 殖民地