雅思听力

🎧 Listening Transcript

Good morning, class. Today we're going to discuss the history of the postal service. While many people think the first stamps were issued in Britain in 1840, in fact, a similar system was used earlier in Austria. However, the British Penny Black is often considered the first adhesive stamp. Interestingly, the idea of prepaying postage was introduced to solve a practical problem: in the early 19th century, many recipients refused to pay for letters they didn't want. This caused significant financial loss to the post office. So, the prepaid stamp system ensured that the sender, not the receiver, bore the cost.