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The places where the courier changed horses were called posts;
郵遞員更換馬匹的地方叫站；
and there was a line of these posts between Boston and New York and between New York and Philadelphia.
在波士頓和紐約沿線，紐約和賓州沿線有許多這樣的站。
In the far South and West, where there were not so many people, there were fewer posts and postmen.
最南端和最西端人口稀少，站也比較少，郵遞員也比較少。
At last the king appointed a Postmaster General for the colonies, and after several men had held the office,
最終，國王任命了殖民地的郵政大臣，歷經(jīng)幾任大臣以后，
it came to the great Benjamin Franklin. Franklin at once set about trying to improve the mail service.
來到了本杰明·富蘭克林在任期間，富蘭克林起初想要提升郵遞服務(wù)。
He traveled over the colonies, visiting many of the posts, and he tried in every way to make the mails move quickly and safely.
他探訪了殖民地，造訪了許多站，他利用各種方法加快郵遞速度，保證郵遞安全。
Then came the Revolutionary War. The colonies broke away from the King of England and became the United States of America.
之后是獨立戰(zhàn)爭，殖民地脫離英格蘭國王統(tǒng)治，成為了美國。
Franklin, who had been the king's Postmaster General, now became the Postmaster General of the United States.
富蘭克林曾是國王的郵政大臣，如今成為了美國的郵政大臣。
The first thing he had to do was to see that George Washington could send messages to his soldiers along the battle fronts.
他要做的第一件事就是保證喬治·華盛頓可以將訊息傳遞給前線打仗的士兵。
The next thing he had to do was to see that letters could be sent back and forth among all the colonies,
第二件事是保證各殖民地之間的信件往來，
so that they could all work together as the new United States.
這樣才可以一起協(xié)力創(chuàng)造新的美國。
He did all this so well, and he improved the mail service in so many ways
他這些都做得很不錯，他也從許多方面改善了郵政服務(wù)，
that he has been called the father of the United States Post Office.
他被稱之為美國郵政之父。
After the couriers on horseback, came the stage coaches. Some of these mail coaches must have been wonderful sights,
馬背上的郵遞員之后是驛馬車，許多郵遞馬車很好看，
for they were painted green, with red wheels. On the doors were the words, United States Mail Stage, painted in bright yellow,
它們被涂成了綠色，紅色的輪胎，車門上寫著美國郵車，字用明亮的黃色顯示，
with a spread eagle of a size and color to suit over the words.
還有一只大小和顏色都匹配文字的展翅老鷹。
But often their bright colors were covered with mud, and in many places they could not be used at all because of bad roads.
但通常明亮的顏色被泥土覆蓋，在許多地方因為道路糟糕而派不上用場。
Much of the mail was still carried on horseback, especially in the far South and West.
多數(shù)郵政依然通過馬背運輸，特別是最南端和最西端。
