题目内容
One of the many things we take for granted in the twentieth century is the speedy collection and delivery of letters to and from all parts of the world at __31___cheap rates.
A husband away ___32___ a business trip can write home to his wife two thousand miles away knowing that the letter will reach ___33____ in a few days. His special air-letter may cost him less than ____34____ loaf of bread or his own bus fare to work.
This service, however, is a favor of comparatively recent origin. Until modern times the cost of sending letters privately was so great that the ___35____ of a letter was a considerable event and might even cost financial hardship to the receiver ___36___ had to bear the charges. ___37____the Middle Ages on, there were indeed special messengers who ____38____(carry)state correspondence, and other messengers employed to travel with news between the great monasteries or the great merchants' houses, but for centuries there was no official post service by which private letters could be sent. It was not until 1840 ___39____ the official organization known as the Penny Post ___40____ (establish)in Great Britain and gave ordinary people cheap and efficient postal deliveries.
31, astonishingly 32, on 33, her 34, a 35, arrival 36, who/that 37, From 38, carrying 39, that 40, was established
