A mistake in the printing of a stamp was made more than a hundred years ago in the former British colony Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. In 1847 an order for stamps was sent to London. Mauritius was about to become the fourth country in the world to put out stamps.
Before the order was filled and the stamps arrived from England, a big dance was planned by the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces on the island. The dance would be held in his house and letters of invitation would be sent to all the important people in Mauritius. Stamps were badly needed to post the letters. Therefore, an islander, who was a good printer, was told to copy the pattern of the stamps. He carelessly put the words “Post Office” instead of “Post Paid”, two words seen on the stamps at that time, on the several hundred stamps that he printed.
Today there are only twenty-six of these misprinted stamps left – fourteen One-penny Reds and twelve Two-penny Blues. Because there are so few Two-penny Blues and because of their age, collectors have paid as much as ﹩16,800 for one of them.
（11 / 22）单选题（4分）
正确答案 D
About 150 years ago, a mistake in printing stamps was made in ___________.( )
A
a big British country
B
a small island of Britain
C
an Indian island
D
a former colony of Britain
（12 / 22）单选题（4分）
正确答案 C
评分 4分
Mauritius printed some stamps because ___________.( )
A
An islander was good at printing
B
London stamps were not well printed
C
Invitations to a dance had to be posted soon
D
All the important people would come to the dance
（13 / 22）单选题（4分）
正确答案 B
我的答案 D
评分 0分
The mistake on the island-printed stamps was in the __________.( )
A
pictures
B
words
C
color
D
price
（14 / 22）单选题（4分）
正确答案 D
In 1847 most countries in the world __________( )
A
collected valuable stamps
B
printed their own stamps
C
ordered stamps from London
D
didn’t use any stamps
（15 / 22）单选题（4分）
正确答案 A
If a mistake is made in the printing of a stamp, the stamp .( )
A
will probably increase its value
B
will have to be thrown away
C
is not worth collecting at all
D
is worth half of its face value
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