【推荐1】During the past few weekends, we held the first 24-Hour Play Festival on campus, the first event our society board has held.

The event started in the Playhouse Theatre at 8:00 pm on Friday with students who _________ to be either an actor, director, or playwright (编剧). Then the host _________ the theme of the event concerning the plays. Playwrights had 12 hours to write a 10-minute play based on the theme, which meant that they had to work all night because the scripts (剧本) were _________ at 8:00 am on Saturday. _________ received scripts and had 12 hours with actors to start their rehearsals (排练). Everyone would _________ at 8:00 pm on Saturday.

As a _________ manager, I had to make sure everything went well. It was really _________ because this was our first time. Students haven’t _________ since the start of the pandemic, so it was _________ to see actors perform in the same room as the audience.

The performers did a(n) __________ job. I was amazed at the playwrights’ beautiful scripts and the ideas they represented. Among those stories, there were many __________ including friendship, love and equality.

One of my favorite plays was about friendship. In the play, a girl and a boy haven’t seen each other for a long time. One day, they meet __________. At first, they are __________ because they do not know where to __________. It was so real that it reminded me of my friend and me. When they talked about good memories in the past and __________ for the future, I was moved. They moved like birds on the stage, and my heart __________.

The actors were amazing. They had to memorize all their __________ in 12 hours. Directors also __________ great ideas in such a short time. I was really excited to watch the performances and be one of the staff. It was not easy to start from zero, but __________ there is a beginning, a story always __________. I learned a lot from the event.

【推荐2】Chinese opera

Chinese opera is one of the three oldest dramatic art forms in the world. During the T ang Dynasty, an emperor established a(n)_________school named Pear Garden. From that time on,_________of Chinese opera were referred to as “disciples (弟子) of the Pear Garden”. Since the Yuan Dynasty it has been_________by court officials and emperors and has become a traditional art form. During the Qing Dynasty, it became fashionable among_________people. Performances were watched in tearooms, restaurants, and stages.

Many of the features that characterize modern Chinese opera developed in Northern China, including the use of certain set_________like Sheng (the man), Dan (the woman), Jing (the painted face) and Chou (the clown).

It developed from folk songs, dances, talking and especially distinctive (独特的) dialectal music. Gradually it combined music, art and literature into one performance on the stage. Accompanied by_________musical instruments like erhu, gong (锣), and lute (琵琶), actors present unique melodies as well dialogues which are beautifully written and of high literary value. For Chinese especially senior people, to listen to this kind of opera is a real_________.

Beijing Opera is considered to be the essence of Chinese opera, but actually, the language of Beijing Opera is not the dialect of Beijing. In 1790, four famous opera performing teams traveled to Beijing. They created the Beijing Opera by_________their local opera with the operas in Hubei, Shanxi and Zhejiang. It was_________to create a new opera based on the operas from these parts of China. At the beginning, the Beijing Opera was only popular in royal families and before too long, it had__________to every part of a China. Now, people from all walks of life like it.

【推荐3】Betty Suarez is not a traditional American beauty. She has a(n) _________ dress sense, thick red glasses, untidy hair and large metal braces(牙箍) on her teeth. But this hasn’t _________ her becoming one of Americans’ favorite TV characters. So how did she _________ to do it?

The answer is that charm can be more _________ than beauty. Betty is the main character in a TV show called Ugly Betty. The show follows her life working as a(n) _________ at a fashion magazine doing unimportant things. She is continuously being_________ and laughed at by the people she works with.

But Betty successfully gets _________ by working hard, being charming and using her _________. The heart of the show is the_________ old-fashioned fairytale of how one goes from being an ugly __________ into being a beautiful swan.

__________ the show being predictable and the story familiar, it has still been a massive success in the US. Its ratings have been __________ high and it has won two Golden Globes awards.

Many people feel able to __________ the character Betty. “I think you can see a bit of Betty in all of us.” says Ashley Jensen, who plays one of the characters in the show.

Another reason why the program is so popular is the __________ of the 23-year-old actress America Ferrera who plays Betty. She brings heart and soul to the character.

The second series has just been__________ in the US. So there will be more adventures to come from the fashionably challenged Betty.

【推荐2】When 2020 began, the thought of going trough a pandemic (瘟疫) was the last thing on my mind. Like most of you, I was busy ________ for cheer competitions, studying for classes and so on. Then, the ________ fell apart before my eyes. I quickly learned that my “normal” could be ________ in a second. Those first few ________ days revealed just how hard it was for me and other teenagers. But it was even harder on the ________ who lived in an assisted living home and couldn’t have any ________.

I called a few of my cheer friends and began to make plans to ________ the day of the elderly there. We may not have been able to go inside, but we could ________ visit through the windows. When we ________ we found out that the residents had been ________ all day when “the cheerleaders” were coming. They were so excited! We ________ their windows with flowers, pictures of sunshine, and happy ________. It was the most special feeling to remind them that the world hadn’t ________ them. When we finished our ________, not only did they have the biggest smiles on their faces, but we had the biggest smiles on ours, which they could not see through our ________!

During this pandemic, I ________ that each of us can remember to be ________ of others, especially those like the elderly. Some of them don’t even ________ why they cannot be visited by their loved ones. I ________ you to think of ways that you can safely. ________ happiness to your local nursing home residents. We’re all in this together, and I’ve learned that the small things we do for others really do matter.