The History of the Early Mail邮件的早期历史

顾光才

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.

现在你和你的亲朋好友取得联系非常容易。你有多种选择，你可以写信、打电话或发电子邮件给他们。而且你的信、电话、电子邮件都会很快到达你的朋友那里。但是在早期，没人知道他们寄出的信何时何地才能到收信人手里。

在非洲南端的一块岩石下曾有一个邮局。在古时候，如果人们要想从英国到印度去的话，他们必须绕道好望角。旅途中常有风暴，很危险，路上要花长达六个月的时间。水手们经常想寄封信回家，但他们很少碰到回英国的轮船。于是，船到好望角他们就上岸，他们到一个特殊的大石头那儿去。在这块石头上刻着几个字：在下面找信。他们就把信放在那儿，因为他们知道下一趟回家的船会在这里停靠，然后取走信。

在华盛顿州还有一个特殊的邮局。它就是一棵大雪松的树桩。那儿的居民需要一个让邮递员投放信件的地方。因为他们的家居住得过于分散，邮递员无法把信件送到每一户人家。居民们发现在好几条路的交叉口处有一棵树。于是，他们把树从距地面十英尺的地方砍断，把树干挖空，在上面搭一个顶，里面钉上一排木盒子，每个木盒子上都写上一个家庭的名字。这样邮递员就把方圆好几里的居民的信投放到那儿。

英国殖民者到达美国的最初几年都没有定期的邮政服务。人们把信给碰巧要去他们寄信的地方的旅行者。当旅行者到了那地方，他们就在一家小客栈停下，然后把信留在那儿。只有当收信人碰巧经过这家小客栈时，他们才能收到信。

许多年以后，固定的邮递员出现了，他们骑马从一个大城镇到另一个大城镇送信。他们只在白天赶路，所以信还得好几个星期才能送到收信人手中。

大约在两百年前，本杰明当选为所有殖民地的邮政局长。情况有了很大改观。他建立了许多邮政局，并且命令他的邮递员不分白天黑夜地赶路。这样信比以前邮递得快多了。

如今一封航空信在很短的时间里就能跨越全球。一家现代化的邮政局一天处理的信件要比殖民地时期的邮递员一年送的信还要多。

1. cape n. 海角；岬 Cape of Good Hope 好望角

2. scratch v. 划伤；划出痕迹

3. stump n. （被砍下的树的）树桩

4. cedar n. 雪松

5. scatter v. （使）散开，（使）分散

6. hollow v. 挖空（某物），变空

7. colonist n. 殖民者

8. inn n. 小旅馆，客栈

9. colony n. 殖民地