The handling and delivery of mail has always been a serious business, underpinned by the trust of the public in requiring timeliness, safety, and confidentiality. After early beginnings using horseback and stagecoach, and although cars and trucks later replaced stagecoaches and wagons, the Railway Mail Service still stands as one of America’s most resourceful and exciting postal innovations. This service began in 1832, but grew slowly until the Civil War. Then from 1862, by sorting the mail on board moving trains, the Post Office Department was able to decentralize its operations as railroads began to crisscross the nation on a regular basis, and speed up mail delivery. This service lasted until 1974. During peak decades of service, railway mail clerks handled 93% of all non-local mail and by 1905 the service had over 12,000 employees.

   Railway Post Office trains used a system of mail cranes to exchange mail at stations without stopping. As a train approached the crane, a clerk prepared the catcher arm which would then snatch the incoming mailbag in the blink of an eye. The clerk then booted out the outgoing mailbag. Experienced clerks were considered the elite of the Postal Service’s employees, and spoke with pride of making the switch at night with nothing but the curves and feel of the track to warn them of an upcoming catch. They also worked under the greatest pressure and their jobs were considered to be exhausting and dangerous. In addition to regular demands of their jobs they could find themselves the victims of train wrecks and robberies.

   As successful as it was, “mail-on-the-fly” still had its share of glitches. If they hoisted the train’s catcher arm too soon, they risked hitting switch targets, telegraph poles or semaphores, which would rip the catcher arm off the train. Too late, and they would miss an exchange.

The word “elite” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to___________.

Câu hỏi liên quan

• According to the passage, ................ requires sensitivity and experience?

•  According to the passage, what are two causes of declining business school enrollments?

• All of the following were mentioned in the passage as detriments to women in the business world EXCEPT ___________.

ZUNIA12

• According to the passage, students working for their first degree at .............. are called undergraduates.

• The word “them” in the second paragraph refers to ________.

• The global community considered the smallpox ___________.

• From what we read we know that now Cambridge is _______.

• Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the first paragraph?

• The author mentions the “ shoesbox under the bed” in order to ................

• The phrase “the one” in line 8 refers to a single ................

• Which statement is NOT supported by the information in the passage?

• The word "they" in the passage refers to ______.

• Why does the author mention spaghetti?

• The passage is organized by .....

• It may be inferred from the passage that Pippin .............

• According to the passage, all of the following contributed to the spread of English around the world _________ .

• What is the passage mainly about?

• According to the passage, the positions and colors of the figures in high-tech animation are determined by ..........

• With what topic does this passage primarily deal?

• The author mentions the “ shoesbox under the bed” in order to ___________.