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A. 

For as long as humans have existed there has been a need to keep in touch and to transfer important information between people in different places. Before the invention of writing, oral messages were carried from one person to another between towns. Writing made it much easier to send longer messages; however, it was still difficult to make sure that your message got to the right place.

B. 

It was used by the Roman officials to transfer information throughout the Empire. Staging posts and a system with horses and carriages meant that messages could move quickly, by using many riders instead of one. It was very important for business and military reasons that good communication system existed. However, the Romans were not the first to realize this. The Chinese and Persian empires used systems of horses and riders more than 500 years before the Romans.

C. 

Before the invention of the postage stamps, letters were “franked”. It was marked on the letter that delivery had been paid for. This could have been either written or stamped. A post-mark was also stamped on the letter. Invented in 1660 in England, this was a mark that showed where and when the letter had been posted. It was used to see how long it took to deliver the letter – to make sure the service was reliable.

D. 

It is the humorous term used by e-mail users for the old-fashioned letters-in-envelopes postal system. It means that such letters travel very slowly, which actually is rather unfair. In Britain you can send letters first or second class; the first class ones normally get to their destination, anywhere in the country, the next morning. The postal service is called the Royal mail, and all the British stamps have the head of the Queen.

E. 

They were invented in Great Britain. It was a British man called Rowland Hill who proposed a stamp to be stuck on the letter to identify that postage had been paid. The first stamp was issued in 1840. It was called the Penny Black and the profile of Queen Victoria’s head was depicted there. The stamp cost 1 pence and was darkly coloured. About 65 million Penny Blacks were issued, and nowadays it is not a very rare stamp.

I come from England but now I live permanently in Québec, Canada. When my parents __________________ me to Canada, I was fifteen.

BRING

It was the winter and I __________________ by the amount of snow there.

IMPRESS

I asked my new friends what they usually __________________ for entertainment in such a cold climate.

DO

Their answer was simple, “In winter __________________ and adults go skiing and skating.”

Before arriving in Canada I had never tried skating and my Canadian ice experience was really painful.

CHILD

To start with, it took __________________ half an hour to put on the skates.

I

I __________________ how to move so my new friends showed me some basic techniques.

NOT/KNOW

However, when I was left alone on the ice, I __________________ over immediately. When I opened my eyes, my new friends were standing around. They weren’t laughing, they looked worried.

FALL

“Are you OK?” they asked.

“Fine,” I said, “I wish I __________________ skate as easily as you do.”

CAN

“You definitely will,” they smiled. And they were right. By the end of my __________________ winter in Canada, I felt confident on the ice. More than that, I found out that skating was a really exciting activity!

ONE

I unexpectedly met my old friend Natalie at a metro station in Paris. I recognised her at once though we hadn’t seen each other for ten years. Now she works as a __________________ for Le Figaro newspaper.

REPORT

Our __________________ began when we were at school. After school, Natalie left Britain. French was her favourite subject and she went to university in Paris.

FRIEND

It is one of the most __________________ Opera Houses in the world.

FAME

Now she is a very __________________ journalist. Her life is busy and exciting.

SUCCESS

I was __________________ that she managed to find some time for me.

LUCK

Natalie made my visit to Paris __________________. She took me to the most interesting places in the city. In the evening we watched a performance at The Grand Opera House.

FORGETTABLE