Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   Before 1840 there were no stamps. In those days people usually paid a lot of money for a letter when they received it. That is why people who were poor did not write to one another often. But when they sent or received a letter, it was a very important thing for them and many people knew about it.
   There is a story from that time about a letter to a poor woman. One day the postman came to her house to bring her a letter. He told the woman to pay a lot of money, which she did not have. She looked at the letter, and gave it back to the postman. “I cannot pay for it,” she said.
   Just at that moment a man heard the conversation between the postman and the woman. He came up to the woman and said, “Let me pay for the letter. I have money and I want to help you.” Then he gave the postman the money he wanted to get from the woman. “I thank you very much,” said the woman, “but you must not pay for the letter. It is from my brother. He sends me one letter every three months. He does not write about himself and his family, he writes only my address on the letter. Then I know that he is well, and as I cannot pay for the letter, I give it back to the postman.”
Vocabulary
a stamp – марка
a postman – поштар
the conversation – розмова

1. In the fifteenth century people knew only four continents.
2. They knew nothing about such a big continent as America.
3. The man who was thought to be the discoverer of America was born in 1451 in Spain.
4. Knowing that the Earth was round, Columbus decided to reach India by sailing to the east.
5. It was very easy for him to organize his expedition as everybody wanted to help him.
6. The voyage was very dangerous and difficult.
7. On the 12^th of October Columbus’ ships reached land.
8. Columbus’ third voyage to America took place in 1493.
9. In 1493 Columbus discovered some other islands of the West India.
10. On the third voyage Columbus came to South America.
11. In 1506 Columbus died in Spain being sure that he had reached the New World.

1. When Edison was a boy of fifteen, he worked as a telegraph manager.
2. But at night there was much work and the telegraph operators usually worked hard.
3. The boss ordered each operator to give a signal every ten minutes to show that he was awake.
4. Edison’s signals always came at the same time, at the beginning of each new hour.
5. One night the boss sent his mother to see how well the boy was working.
6. So one day the boss sent an inspector to see how well the boy was working.
7. When the inspector opened the door, he saw Edison sleeping in his chair.
8. The inspector saw a block with a mechanism on the table.
9. The inspector wanted the boy to show how the mechanism could work.
10. Edison awoke and was told that he had lost his job.
11. This story explains why the first of Edison’s many inventions was patented.

   Once an Englishman went to the seashore for his summer holidays. He asked his housekeeper to post him all letters that she would receive during his absence. She promised him to do that.
   The Englishman rested very well. A month passed but he received no letters. He thought it strange and he telephoned his housekeeper: “Why didn’t you post me my letters?” “Because you didn’t leave me the key of the letter-box,” was the answer.
   The Englishman apologized and promised to send her the key. In some days he put the key into an envelope, wrote down his address on it and posted the letter. Another month was passing but still he didn’t receive any letters. When at the end of the month he came back home he spoke angrily with his housekeeper. “But what could I do?,” asked the poor woman. “The key which you posted was in the locked letter-box too”.

1. William Caxton is the first English printer.
2. He was born in London.
3. His father was a doctor.
4. William Caxton didn’t want to become a farmer.
5. William worked in an office which traveled to different countries.
6.  William liked to read new books which were printed in America.
7. When William was thirty he started his own business in Belgium.
8. Then he left his business and began to read French books.
9. He began interested in printing and at last he learned it.
10. William Caxton brought his printing press to Washington.
11. All people liked his work very much.
12. William Caxton printed his first book in 1477.
13. It was not the first book printed in English language.
14. William Caxton printed about fifty books.
15. He translated thirty books from French.