Postal Services

We can’t imagine our life without postal services. The post-office delivers and collects our mail, and delivers newspapers and magazines every day.

If we want to post a letter and have no envelope we should go to the post-office to buy one. We should come up to the window marked “Stamps and envelopes”, buy an envelope and stamp, stick the stamp on the envelope, write the recipient’s and the sender’s addresses and drop the letter into the mail-box.

The postage of the letter depends on the type of the letter. Letters can be inland, foreign, local, registered and ordinary.

If we want to send something valuable we should post it by a registered letter. Then we should come up to the window marked “ Registered letters” and hand the letter to the clerk. The clerk will register the letter and write out a receipt. With the receipt you can trace the letter in case it is not delivered to the addressee.

At the general post office there are also windows marked “Post Restante”,”Parcels and Book-Parcels”, “Telegrams” and “Money Orders”.

If the postman can’t find the addressee and there is no sender’s address on the letter then the letter goes to the “Dead Letters” box.

To send a parcel we should go to the ”Parcels” window, take a special form, fill it in and give the parcel and the form to the clerk. The clerk will weigh the parcel on the scales and write out a receipt. The postage of the parcel depends on its weight, distance and insurance.

If some money order is sent to us then the postman drops the notification card into the letter-box. We go to the post-office, fill in the notification card (our passport or some other ID data, the sum of money we receive, the date) and give it together with the ID to the clerk. Of course we should put our signature on the notification card.

NOTES:

(to) hand (v)	передавати
Post Restante (letter)	(лист) до запитання
registered letter	Рекомендований лист
surface(n), (adj)	Поверхня; наземний
(to) trace (v)	Відслідковувати, відстежити
(to) weigh (v)	Зміряти вагу, зважувати

Ex.10. Answer the following questions.

1. How do we call the one who sends a letter or telegram?

2. And the one who receives them?

3. Who delivers our mail to us?

4. How many daily deliveries are there in your district?

5. How many times a day are letters collected from mail boxes?

6. What does the postage of the parcel depend on ? And the letter?

Ex. 11. Look through text A and find some words which look like Ukrainian ones. Try to guess their meanings.

Ex. 12. Match the equivalents between the English and Ukrainian words and expressions.

to deliver mail, to post a letter an envelope to stick a stamp on the envelope, to drop a letter into the mail-box postage a valuable document to post a document by a registered letter to hand the letter to the clerk to fill in a form the general post-office to weigh a parcel on the scales insurance money order notification card ID data a signature

підпис дані, що підтверджують особу головпоштамт давати лист службовцю відправляти документ рекомендованим листом кидати листа до поштової скриньки заповнювати бланк приклеїти марку на конверт відправити листа доставляти пошту конверт цінний документ важити посилку на терезах поштова оплата страхування повідомлення грошовий переказ.

Ex. 13. Look through text A. Make partnerships and translate the words and expressions.

Model: Letter box – поштова скринька.

Set 1	Set 2
Fill in Postal Notification Money Registered Buy Put Post Passport Come up Sender’s Write out weigh	Office Card Order A form Letters The parcel on the scales Address An envelope and a stamp Data Services A signature The window A receipt

Ex. 14. Look at the words and expressions in the box and write them under the headings.

• items to be posted;

• kinds of periodicals:

• things needed for posting a letter;

• kinds of postal services.

Mail, newspaper, parcel, delivering, stamp, cable, telegram, registering, bulletin, magazine, subscribing, catalogue, message, collecting, letter, envelope, sheet of paper, journal.

Ex. 15. Work in pairs. Match the sentences in set A with the sentences in set B as quickly as possible.

Set A

Set B

If I have enough money next month, If you have filled in the notification card, If the weather is fine tomorrow afternoon, If you give the parcel and the form to the clerk, If someone is going to send a letter, If there is no sender’s address on the letter and the postman cannot find the addressee, If a notification card for some money order is dropped into your letter box,

…he must weigh it on the scales and write out a receipt. …the letter goes to the “Dead letters” box. c)…I may subscribe to “Natalie” magazine. d)…he will have to buy an envelope and a stamp. e)…Susan will go to the post-office. f)…give it to the post clerk together with your passport. g)…you should fill it in at the post-office (your ID or passport, the sum of money in words, the date and your signature).

.