阅读理解。 In the earlynineteenth century ,

问题：

阅读理解。

     In the early  nineteenth century , people did not use stamps(邮票). They had to pay postage(邮费)

when they received letters. Sometimes they didn’t want to receive a letter at all, because they had to pay

money for it . They were unhappy about this. The postage was high at that time, because the post offices

had to send many people to get the postage.

     Rowland Hill was a school teacher in England. He was the first to think of using stamps in the 1850s.

He thought it would be much easier for people to use stamps. They could go to the post offices to buy

stamps and put them on envelopes(信封) before they sent the letters. The post offices could just put seals(印记) on the stamps so that people could not use the stamps again. In this way, the post offices did not

need to send postmen to get the postage. It only needed fewer postmen to send letters.

1. Did people use stamps in the early nineteenth century?

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2. What did the people have to do when they received letters?

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3. Why was the postage high at that time?

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4. When did Rowland Hill think of using stamps?

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5. What did the post offices put seals on the stamps for?

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