B4

These days, letters posted in one country can be sent to somebody living on the other side of the world in less than a week, thanks to air mail.

 LIVE

B5

But this is not what happened to a letter sent by a Mr Gray in 1937. He suddenly had to leave the country to go to France and so he quickly wrote a letter to his wife to say goodbye and tell her what a wonderful wife she was.

 SEND

B6

He must have posted the letter just before he boarded the ship that would take him to France, but sadly the ship sank / had sunk and Mr Gray was never seen again.

 SINK

B7

Mrs Gray finally received the letter last week – more than sixty years after her husband wrote / had written it.

 WRITE

B8

An official explained that the letter had fallen behind a desk and it would have remained undiscovered if the Post Office hadn’t decided to replace the old furniture.

Today, Mr Gray could have sent his wife an email or a text message instead of a letter.

 REMAIN

B9

In fact, the use of postal services for business correspondence, as well as for personal letters, is declining all the time.

 DECLINE

B10

In all probability, the number of daily postal deliveries will continue to drop in the future.

CONTINUE