Stamp Stories Worth Retelling challenge, reference, 中文翻译, software, internet

williamzhang

Yesterday I read a story on internet from website of mental-floss, I think it is an interesting story and would like to post here.  The translation is based on Google software, it is no accurate, just for your reference.
昨天我在网站mental-floss读到一个集邮故事，我认为这是一个有趣的故事，现在这里转载， 中文翻译是根据谷歌的软件，它不很准确，错误难免，仅供参考。

The Stamp That Went Underground

During the early 20th century, the postal delivery system met its biggest challenge since mailman-hating dogs: street traffic. In large cities across Europe and America, mail delivery wagons had to maneuver through swarms of horse-drawn carriages, streetcars, and pedestrians—all of which severely slowed down the postal system. Eventually, post office officials figured that if the mail couldn't get through city traffic, they would try going under it. Thus emerged pneumatic mail tubes, a kind of subway system for letters. In major metropolises such as Paris, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, and New York, mail tubes were constructed underground to link major post offices. Compressed air propelled containers of mail through steel tubes at speeds up to 30 mph, increasing the postal service's delivery pace by leaps and bounds. In most cases, people still used regular stamps for pneumatic mail. Italy, however, printed special pneumatic stamps between 1933 and 1966. Such subterranean mail tubes operated until as recently as the 1980s, but as cities grew and post offices moved around, rerouting the underground mail networks proved too difficult. The tubes were abandoned in most cities, though Prague still has a few pneumatic tubes in use.

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2016-7-11 19:22

走到地下邮票
在20世纪初，邮政递送系统满足其最大的挑战，因为邮递员恨狗：街道的交通。在整个欧洲和美国大城市，邮件传递货车不得不通过马车，电车和行人 - 所有这些都严重地减缓了邮政系统的群操纵。最终，邮局的官员认为，如果邮件无法通过城市交通得到的，他们会尝试下下去。因此，出现了气动邮件管，一种为字母地铁系统。在主要大城市如巴黎，罗马，维也纳，柏林和纽约，邮件管建造地下链接各大邮局。压缩空气的速度推进，通过钢管邮件集装箱可达30英里，实现了跨越式提高了邮政服务的交付速度。在大多数情况下，人们仍然使用普通邮票气动邮件。意大利，但是，印刷专用气动邮票经营直到最近在上世纪80年代在1933年和1966年这样的地下邮件管之间，但随着城市的成长和邮局到处移动，重路由地下邮件网络实在是太困难。这些管子在大多数城市被废弃了，但布拉格仍然在使用一些气动管。

williamzhang

回复 1# williamzhang
The Stamps that Stick Without a Lick
Getting stamps to stick hasn't always been a simple task. Most stamps made after 1840 came with an adhesive gum on the back. But the gum—made from various plant products such as cornstarch, sweet potatoes, gum Arabic, and sugar—wasn't always of the highest quality, meaning stamps often fell off letters. The U.S. Postal Service tried various gum formulas to remedy the situation, including special "summer gum" that was resistant to humidity, and "winter gum" that resisted cracking in cold, dry winter air.

Finally, in the 1960s, the South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga broke the mold when it printed a series of self-adhesive stamps. Not only did they not require licking, they came in odd shapes—the most famous of which was this 1969 stamp (below) shaped like a banana. These unusual stamps were a big hit and, for a time, became a significant source of revenue for the country. Collectors went crazy for them. In fact, they became so popular that one dealer ordered more copies of a particular stamp than had been printed. Most countries followed Tonga's lead, and today, the die-cut, peel-and-stick stamps are the most common type of stamps in the United States.

谁发明邮票贴信不用舔？

把邮票粘在信封有时并不总是一个简单的任务。 1840年后所做的大部分邮票来了，背面的粘合剂口香糖。但胶制作而成的各种植物产品，如玉米淀粉，红薯，阿拉伯胶和糖不是最高品质的始终，往往意味着邮票掉下来的信件。美国邮政服务想尽各种胶配方，以纠正这种情况，包括特殊的“暑期胶”？这是湿度，“冬胶”耐？这在抵抗寒冷，干燥的冬天的空气开裂。

最后，在20世纪60年代，汤加南太平洋岛国打破了模具当它印了一系列不干胶邮票。他们不仅不需要舔，他们来到奇怪的形状，其中最著名被这个1969邮票（图）形状像一个香蕉。这些不寻常的邮票是一个很大的打击，并，一时间，成为收入为国家显著来源。收藏家都疯狂了他们。事实上，他们变得如此受欢迎，一个经销商订购了特殊的邮票更多的拷贝已被打印出来。大多数国家遵循汤加的带动下，今天，模切，剥离和棒邮票在美国最常见的类型。

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2016-9-4 08:46