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.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions

Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?

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• The passage is mainly about the subject of .............

• The word “they” in line 17 refers to ...........

• Which of the following is NOT true about algae?

ZUNIA12

• What did the professor learn from the study?

• What does the word "trilogy" in the first paragraph mean?

•  In line 3, the words pays heed to are closest in meaning to ………………...

• When did the the Pilgrims make a difficult trip to across the ocean from England?

• According to the passage, many people believe that lions come from ...........

• In the paragraph 2, the word “accomplishments” can be best replaced by ..............

• All of the following statements are mentioned EXCEPT ______.

• The word “key” in paragraph 1 could best be replaced by________.

• Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this text?

• Approximately when did English begin to be used beyond England?

• Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

• The word it refers to___________.

• Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?

• Why does the author of the passage mention the report of the President’s Science Advisory Committee (lines 14-15) ?

• What does this paragraph mainly discuss?

• The passage indicates that Harvard is ............

• The writer uses the phrase “On the other hand” in the last paragraph to .......