One Penny, Any Distance
Written by Studio AM.
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Before 1840, sending a letter in Britain was awkward work. The person who received the letter usually paid for it, not the sender. The price depended on the distance and on the number of sheets of paper. Charges could be high enough that a recipient refused a letter rather than pay for it.
A reformer named Rowland Hill argued that this system wasted money. Calculating charges took clerks' time. He proposed one flat price for any light letter, paid in advance by the sender.
A uniform penny rate began in January 1840. In May, the Post Office issued a small rectangle of paper with glue on the back and the head of Queen Victoria printed in black ink. It cost one penny. People stuck it on a letter weighing up to half an ounce, which could then travel anywhere in the United Kingdom for that prepaid rate.
The reforms made a large difference. Letters became cheap enough for ordinary families, and the number sent in Britain rose sharply within a few years. Other countries copied the idea. For more families, writing home became a regular habit rather than a luxury.
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Questions
Choose an answer. The explanation appears after you answer.
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Question 1 of 4
The passage is mainly about
The answer is C: how a prepaid stamp made letters cheap and common
Every paragraph builds one line: the old system was costly, Hill proposed a flat prepaid price, the stamp appeared, and letter writing spread.
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Question 2 of 4
Before 1840, who usually paid for a letter?
The answer is B: the person who received it
The second sentence states it directly: the receiver paid, not the sender.
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Question 3 of 4
Why might someone have refused a letter before the reform?
The answer is C: The cost of accepting the letter was too high for them
The first paragraph directly connects refusal with a charge the recipient was unwilling or unable to pay.
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Question 4 of 4
In the last sentence, 'luxury' means
The answer is B: something expensive that ordinary people cannot easily afford
The sentence contrasts a 'normal habit' with a luxury, and the passage has already shown that letters used to be too expensive for ordinary families.
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