Post Office Locations & Hours
United States Postal Service (USPS) offers mailing and shipping services. Search for a USPS location near you to see the available services and holiday closing hours. You can also find smaller postal units, retailers that sell stamps, blue collection mailboxes, and 24-hour USPS kiosks (小亭).
USPS Holiday Service Schedule
All post office locations will be closed on Christmas Day (Dec.25) and New Year's Day (Jan.1). Regular post office hours and mail delivery will resume (恢复) after each holiday. Business Customers: Check your Bulk Mail (大宗邮件) Entry Unit for hours of operation.
December 24 (Christmas Eve); December 25 (Christmas Day); December 31 (New Year's Eve); January 1 (New Year's Day). | ●Local post office locations will be closed. ●Blue Collection Boxes: Mail will not be picked up. ●Regular mail will not be delivered. ●Priority Mail Express mail will be delivered. |
Note:
●Deliveries on Christmas Eve (Dec.24) and Christmas Day (Dec.25) are made only in limited locations. An extra fee for those deliveries will be assessed.
●Not a guarantee, unless otherwise noted. For Priority Mail Express shipments mailed from December 22 to December 25, the money-back guarantee applies only if the shipment was not delivered, or delivery was not attempted, within two business days.
●Deliveries on New Year's Eve (Dec.31) and New Year's Day (Jan.1) are made only in limited locations. An extra fee for those deliveries will be assessed.
Orla Walsh was not exactly an example of good health. Back in 2014, the 25-year-old then was fully occupied with her work and graduate study in Dublin, mostly eating on the go. "I was feeding on quick, easy food like sandwiches," she said. "I stayed up a lot and the gym was a foreign concept for me for I did not work out at all."
That changed the following year when Walsh needed a convenient, reliable and budget-friendly way to get to and from class. "Driving was expensive, and public transportation in the Irish capital left much to be desired," she said. She turned instead to cycling.
At first, Walsh was doubtful. "I didn't want to wear the same suits like other riders because it looked strange for me," she joked. But as soon as she gave it a go, she was spellbound. The six miles she had to cover on her commute (上下班往返) each way didn't seem like so much. "I can't believe how quick and easy that was," Walsh said. "The more I cycled, the easier it got, and I started getting faster. I think what I enjoyed the most was the freedom the bike gave me."
In early 2016, she took the next step and joined a local cycling club, where she took part in long group rides. But something incredible was happening at the same time. As her weekly mileage (里程数) increased, her unhealthy habits fell by the wayside. She cleaned up her diet and cut back on burning the midnight oil. "I gradually got rid of that bad habit after joining in training," she said.
Then, thanks to the encouragement of other club members, she tried open road racing. At first, she was overwhelmed by the competition, getting dropped by other members on every climb. Yet she kept pushing and viewing the failures as learning experience. "I was enjoying the challenges and was more confident," she said.
Most of us look forward to the weekend as a time to relax, connect with friends and family, and handle items from a to-do list that gets unnoticed during the work week. But as the weekday does come to an end, many of us are missing out on enjoying the weekend and instead experiencing a sense of anxiety and even fear for the upcoming week. Experts call this phenomenon Sunday scaries.
Sunday scaries, also known as the Sunday blues, arise when individuals expect the upcoming work week with a combination of various factors such as work-related concerns, unfinished tasks, the end of weekend relaxation, and the pressure to start the new week. As a result, individuals may find it challenging to unwind and relax before the new week begins.
A clinical psychologist, Renée Goff, said, "Sunday scaries are more than a physical heaviness for them, but they could even jump out of their skins due to the upcoming week. The negative emotions associated with Sunday scaries can have a significant impact on one's mental well-being and overall productivity."
"As a matter of fact, such anticipatory anxiety is a natural response that happens in preparation for anything that can cause pain or discomfort," explains psychotherapist Angela Ficken. "Sunday scaries might even start bubbling up as early as Saturday, but tend to become less intense by the time Monday morning rolls around when you start your work week. This doesn't mean we leave them unchecked."
To battle anticipatory anxiety for the upcoming week, individuals can adopt self-care practices that promote relaxation and stress reduction. This may include engaging in hobbies, spending time in nature, exercising, practicing mindfulness or simply dedicating time to disconnect from work-related thoughts. Additionally, we can organize tasks for the upcoming week in advance to create a sense of control, reduce the Sunday scaries and promote a healthier work-life balance.
We all love butterflies. Their beautiful wings attract us, and their presence lights up our garden. Well, that's our view of butterflies, but have you ever wondered what plants think of them?
The butterflies' eggs lie on the underside of the leaves. The eggs themselves don't damage plants. However upon coming into contact with the eggs, the plants become oversensitive. It means that once a plant recognizes a pest, it will cause death in the contacted plant part. When these dead leaves or partial leaf parts break away from the plant, the eggs on them fall off. Along with the hypersensitivity response, plants also produce something special, which can attract animals to cat the eggs, thus preventing damage in the future.
After the baby butterflies come out of their eggs, the caterpillar (毛虫) stage begins. Most caterpillars feed on the leaves of the plants, damaging some of the plants in your own garden. Incredibly, they are major plant pests that bring about major losses to farmers. The next stage is pupa (蛹). The caterpillars begin their change into an adult. They don't depend on the energy that the leaves provide. Finally, they become adult butterflies that have wings and move from one plant to the other. They feed on the sweet liquid produced by flowers.
While on their search for food, the butterflies carry pollen (花粉) on their body. They are key pollinators that place pollen from one flower to another in ecosystem. Plants that have flowers will create some special features to draw these pollinators' attention. Certain plants have flowers giving off smells that can charm butterflies when they are looking for a mate. Some plants even have flat flowers to assist butterflies when landing.
Butterflies aid in pollination during their final adult stage. Thus, they change into beneficial insects to plants. This change makes butterflies an important friend of plants, despite being a hated enemy in previous life cycle stages!
Increasing your reading speed is a journey that combines technique, practice, and a patient mindset. By following these strategies, you'll improve your reading speed.
Active reading
Active reading involves engaging with the material rather than passively absorbing words. Techniques such as underlining key phrases, quickly taking down notes in the margin (页边空白) and asking questions about the content can significantly enhance your reading speed. .
Expand your peripheral vision (周边视觉)
A substantial portion of reading involves the movement of your eyes across lines of text. By expanding your peripheral vision, you can take in more words with each glance. Practice widening your focus to capture groups of words rather than focusing on one word at a time. .
Get rid of subvocalisation (默读)
Subvocalisation, or the habit of pronouncing each word in your head as you read, can be a major obstruction to reading speed. Subvocalisation is a natural part of early reading development. . Train your mind to get rid of this inner voice by consciously focusing on visualising concepts and ideas rather than saying each word internally. This change can lead to a fast reading experience.
Like any skill, increasing your reading speed requires consistent practice. Mix up your reading materials to expose yourself to various writing styles and subjects. Whether it's fiction, non-fiction, academic articles or industry reports, diversifying your reading content enhances your adaptability and speed in processing different types of information.
. Gradually increase the complexity and length of the material, challenging your brain to read faster while maintaining comprehension. This intentional and varied practice is key to training your newfound speed-reading skills.
A. Practice regularly
B. Efficient reading
C. However, it can delay progress as you strive to read faster
D. Set aside dedicated time each day for focused reading practice
E. These actions force your brain to get information more efficiently
F. This adjustment can lead to a significant increase in reading speed
G. This allows your brain to process information without the inner voice
Monique Marshall knew she had to do something for her mother after her stepfather passed away. Monique's mother, Karin, who is 84 years old, was living in her apartment in New York City 1 , about 2,500 miles away from Monique in Los Angeles.
Monique 2 she had to do something for her mother. 3 , Monique's husband, Demille, was all on board, willing to do anything to 4 Karin in her advanced age. That's when Monique and Demille brainstormed with their friends and neighbors, Pierre and Carmen, who happened to be 5 .
After much thought and planning, they 6 a solution of a "glam garage (豪华车库)". Monique and Demille decided to turn their old and drafty 7 into an apartment space for Karin. But as is always the case with any construction project, they encountered 8 . However, it was nothing too big that kept them from completing the 9 . And the results are 10 !
Karin is in love with her new living space and new city. When Karin first 11 into her glam garage apartment in Los Angeles, she couldn't 12 her eyes.
"It was overwhelming," said Karin. "I was so 13 . Monique had done all the furniture. I didn't have to do anything."
What a wonderful and 14 solution that came about because of love, care and 15 .
As winter comes, hands and feet can easily get cold especially among women. Thick gloves can be one of the best (option) yet some makes wearing them is not convenient, especially when people want to do something with (they) hands.
However, this was not a problem for ancient Chinese people, had a more exquisite (精美的) tool to keep their hands warm: hand warmers.
There is no accurate (write) record regarding the origin of this tool, but there are some tales about its invention.
One folk story concerns an emperor of the Sui Dynasty who visited Jiangsu in the winter. Due the bitter cold, the local official asked manufacturers (design) a small warmer for the emperor that could be held in one's hands. Thus the hand warmer was created.
By the Song Dynasty, the tool was in widespread use. Techniques for producing the tool were (wide) employed in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Many poems and books from this period recorded people (use) hand warmers. A Dream of Red Mansions, the classic novel by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty, also featured a maid sending a hand warmer to the heroine Lin Daiyu in one chapter.
Zhang Mingqi, a veteran manufacturer of hand warmers, was considered first-class craftsman in the Qing Dynasty. The tools that he produced (bear) his surname, called Zhang-style hand warmers.
In 1940, I worked in the checkroom of the railway station. I saw everybody that came up the stairs.
Harry was a young man who came to the station and waited at the head of the stairs for the passengers from the 9:05 train.
I remembered seeing Harry that first evening. He wasn't much more than a thin, anxious kid then. He was all dressed up and I knew he was meeting his sister, who he hadn't seen for many years.
Well, the passengers came up and I had to get busy. I didn't look toward the stairs again until nearly time for the 9:18 and I was very surprised to see that the Harry was still there. His sister didn't come on the 9:18 either, nor on the 9:40, and when the passengers from the 10:02 had all arrived and left, Harry was looking pretty upset. Pretty soon he came close to my window so I called out and asked him what his sister looked like.
"She's small and dark. She is nineteen years old and very neat in the way she walk," he said. "She has a face that has lots of spirit. I mean she can get mad but she never stays mad for long, and her eyebrows come to a little point in the middle. She's got a brown fur, but maybe she isn't wearing it."
"I couldn't remember seeing anybody like that," I told him.
He showed me the telegram he'd received: ARRIVE THURSDAY. MEET ME AT THE STATION. MAY. It was from Omaha, Nebraska. "Well," I finally said, "why don't you phone to your home? She's probably called there if she got in ahead of you."
He gave me a sick look. "I've only been in the town for two days. We were going to meet and then drive down to the south of the city where I've got a job. She doesn't have my address."
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
When I came on duty the next day, Harry was still there and I asked more about his sister.
……
One day, after about two weeks, I thought I could say something encouraging to him.
