OBERLIN，Kansas（AP）一A postcard featuring a color drawing of Santa Claus and a young girl was mailed in l914，but its journey was much slower than Christmas．It has just arrived in northwest Kansas recently．The Christmas card was dated December 23，1914，and mailed to Eth-el Martin of Oberlin，apparently from her cousins in Alma，Nebrasks．

“It’s a mystery where it spent most of the last century，”Oberlin Postmaster Steve Schultz said．

    “It’s surprising that it never got thrown away，”he said．“how someone has found it，I don’t know．”

    Ethel Martin has passed away，but Schultz said the post office wanted to get the card to a relative．that’s how the 95-year-old relic ended up with Bernice Martin：Ethel’s sister-in-1aw．She said she believed the card had been found somewhere in Illinois．

    “that’s all we know。”she said．“But it is kind of curious．We’d like to know how it got down there．”

“the card was placed inside another envelope with modern postage for the trip to Oberlin—the one cent postage of the early 20th century wouldn’t have covered it，”Martin said    “We don’t know much about it.”she said．“but wherever they kept it，it was in perfect shape．”

1．Where did Ethel Martin Live?

    A．In Illinois．                        B．In Kansas。

  C．In Oberlin．                          D．In Alma．

2．Who was supposed to have received the postcard?

    A．Bernice Martin．                B．Ethel Martin．

    C．Santa Claus．                       D．Steve Schultz．

3．What seems quite mysterious is that__________．

    A．how it was sent to a relative

    B．the postcard was still in shape

    C．where the old postcard was kept

    D．the card waft in a modem envelope．

4．What does“the 95-year-old relic”in Paragraph 4 refer to?

    A．The Christmas card．

    B．An ancient cultural relic in Illinois．

    C．An envelope with modem postage．

    D．A house passed down by Ethel Martin．

5．The best title of the passage would be________．

    A．A Christmas Card without Postage

    B．Too Late Christmas Greetings

    C．The Origin of a Christmas Card

    D．A Careless Postman

If you have ever been discouraged(受挫) because of failure(失败), please read on. Usually, achieving(实现) what you set out to do is not the important thing. Let me explain.

Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they were working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch.

“What are you doing?” asked one of the visitors.

“We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth!” one of the brothers answered excitedly.

The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a long silence, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders（蜘蛛）, worms and a lot of insects. He removed the lid（揭开盖子） and showed the wonderful contents to the visitors who were laughing at them. Then he said quietly and confidently, “Even if we don’t dig all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way!”

Their goal was far too difficult, but it made them dig. And that is what a goal is for—to make us move in the direction we have chosen. In other words, it sets us to digging!

But not every goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will end successfully. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every love will last. But when you fall short of your aim, perhaps you can say, “Yes, but look at what I found along the way! Look at the wonderful things which have come into my life because I tried to do something!” And I believe it is the joy in the journey, in the end, that truly matters.

1.The writer told us the story to ________ .

A．advise us to treats（对待） our failures fairly

B．persuade us to make an aim for our lives

C．encourage us to learn from the two brothers

D．prove that failure helps us make achievements

2.What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Failure is the mother of success

B．When there is a will, there is a way

C．No pains, no gains

D．Joy in the journey

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Digging a hole all the way through the earth is impossible.

B．The writer thinks that the two brothers will reach their goal one day.

C．A goal is something that makes us want to dig holes.

D．Everyone can succeed if he sets a practical goal.

Antidepressant（抗忧郁）drugs such as Prozac were viewed in the early 1900's as wonder pills that would remove depressive blues for good. But in the past five years, growing scientific evidence has shown these drugs work for only a minority of people. And now a research journal says that these antidepressants can make many patients' depression worse. This alarming suggestion centres on the very chemical that is targeted by antidepressants-serotonin（血清素）. Drugs such as Prozac are known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors（or SSRIs）. Their aim is to increase the level of this  “feel-good” chemical in the brain.

But the new research, published in the journal Frontiers In Evolutionary Psychology, points out that serotonin is like a chemical Swiss Army knife, performing a very wide range of jobs in the brain and body. And when we start changing serotonin levels purposely, it may cause a wide range of unwanted effects. These can include digestive problems and even early deaths in older people, according to the study's lead researcher Paul Andrews. “ We need to be much more cautious about use of these drugs,” says Andrews, an assistant professor of evolutionary psychology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Previous research has suggested that the drugs provide little benefit for most people with mild depression, and actively help only a few of the most severely depressed. Famous psychologist Irving Kirsch has found that for many patients, SSRIs are no more effective than a placebo pill. A research in 2010 on Danish children found a small, but significant, increase in the risk of heart problems among babies whose mothers had used SSRIs in early pregnancy. The key to understanding these side-effects is serotonin, says Andrews. Serotonin is also the reason why patients can often end up feeling still more depressed after they have finished a course of SSRI drugs. He argues that SSRI antidepressants disturb the brain, leaving the patient an even greater depression than before.

“After long use, when a patient stops taking SSRIs, the brain will lower its levels of serotonin production,” he says, adding that it also changes the way receptors in the brain respond to serotonin, making the brain less sensitive to the chemical. These changes are believed to be temporary, but studies indicate that the effects may continue for up to two years.

Most disturbingly of all, Andrews' review features three recent studies which, he says , show that elderly antidepressant users are more likely to die earlier than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. One study, published in the British Medical Journal last year, found patients given SSRIs were more than 4 per cent more likely to die in the next year than those not on the drugs.

“Serotonin is an ancient chemical,” says Andrews. “It is regulating many different processes, and when you disturb these things, you can expect that it is going to cause some harm.”

Stafford Lightman, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, and a leading UK expert in brain chemicals and hormones, says Andrews’ review highlights some important problems, yet it should also be taken with a pinch of salt. “This report is doing the opposite of what drug companies do,” he says. “Drug companies selectively present all the positives in their research, while this search selectively presents all the negatives that can be found. Nevertheless, Andrews' study is useful in that it is always worth pointing out that there is a downside to any medicine. ” Professor Lightman adds that there is still a great deal we don't know about SSRIs-not least what they actually do in our brains.

When it comes to understanding why the drugs work only for a limited part of patients, U.S.  scientists think they might now have the answer. They think that in many depressed patients, it’s not only the lack of feel-good serotonin causing their depression, but also a failure in the area of the brain that produces new cells throughout our lives. This area, the hippocampus, is also responsible for regulating mood and memory. Research suggests that in patients whose hippocampus has lost the ability to produce new cells, SSRIs do not bring any benefit.

1.According to paragraph 2, serotonin, like a chemical Swiss Army knife, can             .

A. make many patients' depression worse

B. cause a wide range of unwanted effects

C. affect human body and brain in various ways

D. provide little benefit for most depressed people

2.In Stafford Lightman's opinion,                     .

A. drug companies don't know the negative effect of antidepressants

B. Andrews focused on different things from the drug companies

C. scientists have found what SSRIs do in the brain

D. Andrews' research has no medical value

3.Which of the following is TRUE about SSRIs?

A. They are used to increase the “feel-good” medical in the brain.

B. They can work even when the hippocampus can't produce new cells.

C. They create a risk of heart problems in pregnant women.

D. They are responsible for controlling mood and memory.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A. The aim of drug companies

B. The function of SSRIs

C. The side-effects of antidepressants

D. The cause of depression