Ex.8 Answer the following questions.

1. Do you like to receive letters? Why? Why not? Are you a good correspondent?

2. On what occasions do we send greeting telegrams and postcards? Is it a common practice in our country?

3. What different reasons might people have for making stamps-collecting a hobby?

4. Have you ever sent a telegram by phone? How is it done?

5. Do people send E-mails or faxes instead of writing letters now? Why?

6. Some people think that having two classes of post (first and second) is stupid. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system?

7. In Britain the record for late delivery is held by a postcard posted in 1943 which arrived at its destination (20 miles away) in 1975. Is it typical? What do you think about it?

8. There is an opinion that postal services shouldn't duplicate some of the bank services. There must be a strict subdivision of responsibilities for each of them. Do you think it would be better for the customers?

Text 2

Ex.1 a) Translate the following words and sentences:

Addressee. This package has my address but it's to a different addressee; it's not mine.

Certified mail.Since it's so important that the addressee receive this letter, I'd like to send it certified mail.

Forward.'m moving next week, so I have to have the post office forward my mail to my new address.

Parcel post.All packages have to be brought directly to the post office and sent parcel post.

Registered mail.If you send your application by registered mail, you can track it until it's delivered.

Special delivery.If you want it to arrive tomorrow, you'd better send it special delivery.

Surface mail.Don't bother buying airmail stamps if you're just sending this in the U.S., because it'll go surface mail anyway.

Zip code.Do you know the zip code for Helena, Montana?

B) Explain the following words in English and translate the sentences with them.

Bulk mail.Jerrod just went to apply for a bulk-mail permit so he can send fliers advertising his new business.

COD. Martha, do you have $20? The mail carrier has a COD package for you.

Direct mail.They say we'll get better results if we send these flyers directly to the customer, so let's go with direct mail.

Junk mail.Jack's mailbox is always full, but it's usually just junk mail.

Postmark.Somepeople like to collect unusual stamps, but Melissa likes to collect letters with unusual postmarks.

Priority mail.Jay ordered a CD and priority mail delivered it in two days.

Route.This route is a mail carrier's nightmare, because there's a dog in every other yard and it's all uphill!

Ex.2 Read the text and tell what you’ve learned about the post-office service in the USA.

Mail delivery was something very different during colonial times from what it is today. In the early 1600s, overseas mail service used a tavern in Boston as the drop-off point for mail received from and sent to England. From there, it was delivered to other cities in the thirteen colonies. The first official post office was established in Pennsylvania in 1683.

In 1737, Benjamin Franklin was appointed the postmaster of Philadelphia. He was only 31 at the time, but this was where the young Franklin began to make his mark in the New World. He immediately began inspecting post offices throughout the British territories and established new and shorter routes between cities. For the first time, the postal service in the colonies began to make money for the British government, and mail service began to operate regularly. Later, Franklin was dismissed from his position as postmaster because of his sympathies for the independence movement in the colonies. However, by the time of his departure there were 30 post offices operating in the colonies.

After the revolution, almost every mode of transportation was tried for improving mail delivery service in the U.S., including even balloons. Naturally, as the size of the new country grew, so did the challenges facing mail delivery. Mail service to California first followed the Butterfield Express, a stage line that began in Missouri and ended— 2800 miles later—in San Francisco. Mail delivery took between 24 days and several months. Later, the Pony Express delivered mail to California by horseback. A rider covered between 75 and 100 miles a day, rapidly changing horses at relay stations set about 10 to 15 miles apart. This method of mail delivery took about 10 1/2 days from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. This legendary mail delivery service lasted only a little over a year, until completion of the transcontinental telegraph line in late 1861.

About forty years later, the automobile began to play a role in mail delivery, and other technological advances in transportation would follow. Today, mail is delivered from city to city in the U.S. by truck, train or airplane. Within cities, mail is hand delivered by mail carriers who walk their routes. In many areas, mail carriers drive cars with steering wheels on the right so they can pull up beside mailboxes set along main roads and highways and deliver the mail without getting, out of the car. The Internet is, of course, another means of delivering much of the kind of mail that was once sent as letters.

Mail delivery in the U.S. has undergone many changes during its history. Some of these changes have been significant in helping to establish different modes of transportation. Others have disappeared almost completely into legend. So the next time you mail a letter, remember how far things have come since that tavern in Boston!

Ex.3 What does the definition describe?

addressee, bulk mail, certified mail, COD, direct mail, forward, junk mail, postmark, parcel post, registered mail, route, special delivery, surface mail, zip code.

1 The advertiser has your name and address and sends you an ad that is addressed to you.

2 You get a package and the mail carrier tells you to pay for it or you can't have it.

3 The person to whom the letter is addressed.

4 The mark on the upper right side of the envelope.

5 Your mail carrier follows this every day.

6 You must sign for it when it arrives.

7 You need this if you want to send a package through the mail.

8 You need to send the same information to a large group of people.

9 You've moved, and you want your mail to be sent to the new

address.

10 This mail is tracked from the first post office to the last post office.

11 You pay extra to have the mail sent to someone faster.

12 This mail does not travel by airplane.

13 You recycle this kind of mail, because you don't want it.

14 Don't forget to put this on the address!

Text 3

Ex.1 Read the text. Note that not all “post-office” expressions are connected with the post.