Whenever you send a letter or a postcard，you have to put stamps on the envelope or on the card．When did people first begin to use stamps?Who was the first to think of this idea?

    In the early nineteenth century，people did not use stamps．They had to pay postage when they receive letters．They unhappy about this，especially when they pay for a letter which they did not wish to receive at a11．The postage was high at that time，because the post offices had to send many people to cotlem the postage．

 RowIand Hill，a schoolnlaster in England，was the first to put forward a proposal to use stamps in the 50s of the nineteenth century．fie thought it would be much easier for people to use stamps to coover postage．They could go to the nearby post office to buy stamps and put them on envelopes before they sent the letters，The post office simply put seals on the stamps so that people could not use the staraps again．In this way，the post office did not need to send postmen to collect postage．It only needed to send fewer postmen to deliver letters．’That was a good idea and the governmern finally accepted it．

It was not until that people began to use stamps．

     A．!he early 19th Century    B．the middle 19th century

    C．the late 19th century    I)．the beginning of the 19th century

Before stamps were used，postage     ．

    A．was paid by the letter—posters  B．was paid by the letter—receivers

     C．was collected by postmen D．BothBand C

After stamps were used，post offices needn’t        

    A．send postmen to collect the postage

    B．send postmen to collect letters

    C．send postmen to deliver jetters

    D．put seals on the used stamps

Which of the following may be the best title of the passage?

   A．When did people first begin to use stamps?

   B．Who was the first to think of using stamps?

   C．Why were postmen sent to collect postage?

   D．How did stamps come Into use?

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　　Young people often wonder at the large number of employers who do not answer their applications for jobs. They say that 1 enclosing return envelopes they 2 nothing at all or, at best, an 3 note is sent declaring that the 4 for which they applied has been filled. Applicants often 5 the suspicion(怀疑)that vacancies (unfilled positions) are put aside for 6 and relatives and that advertisements are 7 put out to avoid this accusation (charge of doing wrong). Many of them 8 writing around and feel that if only they could obtain an 9 with the right person their application would 10 success.

　　Not to 11 having received applicants' letters is impolite and there seems 12 excuse for this. Yet even sending brief replies to 13 who apply take much time and money. That 14 return envelope may not have been 15 by the sender, and a 16 office manager may be unwilling to send off long letters of explanation to disappointed 17 . A brief 18 is all that can be managed and even that 19 the policy of the firm. But this difficulty is reasonably 20 to remove with a little goodwill.

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Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work, others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes，accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales (童话）
The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained ?10,000 with a cutting from the Braunschtveiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag； similar plain white anonymous (匿名）envelopes, each containing ?10,000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.
The envelopes keep coming, and so far at least ?190,000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper’s own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14-year-old boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschweiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of ?500 inside , with a copy of the article. The name of the family was underlined.
"I was driving when I heard the news,” Claudia Neumann, the boy’s mother, told DerSpiegel magazine. “I had to park on the side of the road； I was speechless. ”
The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchair-accessible .and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.
“For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing," Mrs. Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.
Henning Noske, the editor of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, said： “Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know. ” However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city’s hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.
【小题1】The Braunschweiger Zeitung is the name of             .

Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work, others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes, accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales(童话)．

The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained 10，000 with a cutting from the Braunschweiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag; similar plain white anonymous(匿名) envelopes, each containing 10，000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.

The envelops keep coming, and so far at least 190，000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper's own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14­year­old boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschweiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of 500 inside, with a copy of the article.The name of the family was underlined.

“I was driving when I heard the news，”Claudia Neumann, the boy's mother, told Der Spiegel magazine.“I had to park on the side of the road; I was speechless.”

The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchair­accessible and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.

“For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing，” Mrs Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.

Henning Noske, the editor of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, said：“Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know.”However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city's hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.

16．The Braunschweiger Zeitung is the name of ________．

A．a church  B．a bank

C．a newspaper  D．a magazine

17．Which of the following is TRUE about the donation to Tom?

A．The donation amounted to 190，000.

B．The donation was sent directly to his house.

C．The money will be used for his education.

D．His mother felt astonished at the donation.

18．It can be inferred from the passage that ________．

A．the donator is a rich old man

B．the donation will continue to come

C．the donation comes from the newspaper

D．the donator will soon be found out

19．What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Money Is Raised by the Newspaper

B．Newspaper Distributes Money to the Needy

C．Unknown Hero Spreads Love in Envelopes

D．Robin Hood Returns to the City