【推荐1】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once, Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．backed     B. commonly     C. cover     D. customs     E. special     F. major G. mark     H. misfortunes       I. performed     J. puzzled     K. thoroughly

Telling the bees

“London Bridge is down” is how Sir Edward Young, Queen’s private secretary, conveyed the official news about the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. As the news spread through the world, a headline     1     many on social media: “royal beekeeper has informed the Queen’s bees that the Queen has died.”

Did bees need to be told about human affairs? Would they have any sort of opinion on the matter?

But some beekeepers,     2     by historians, say “telling the bees” is a standard practice that goes back centuries, with potentially serious consequences if not followed.

“It’s a very old and     3     tradition, but not something that’s very well-known,” said Mark Norman, a folklorist and the author of Telling the Bees and Other     4    : The Folklore of Rural Crafts.

The tradition holds that bees, as members of the family, should be informed of     5     life events in the family, especially births and deaths. Beekeepers would knock on each hive, deliver the news and possibly     6     the hive with a black cloth during a mourning period. The practice is more     7     known in Britain but is also found in the United States and other parts of Europe, Mr. Norman said.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, it was believed that neglecting to tell the bees could lead to various     8    , including their death or departure, or a failure to make honey. Nowadays, beekeepers may be less likely to believe they risk bad luck, but they may continue to follow the tradition as “a     9     of respect,” Mr. Norman said.

Stephen Fleming, a beekeeper for 25 years and the co-editor of BeeCraft, a magazine for British beekeepers, said he once     10     the tradition after a friend died. He went to the friend’s bees, gently knocked on the hives and told them the news, he said.

“It was just something I thought my friend would have enjoyed,” he added.

Mr. Fleming said most beekeepers would most likely be aware of the tradition, but not as many would practice it.

“It’s generally thought to be a good and nice thing to do,” he said.

【推荐2】Directions: Complete the article with the words or phrases in the box.Each word or phrase can only be used once.There is one extra that you do not need.

A.led       B.forcing       C.having       D.planned E.performing       F.limited       G.monitoring       H.announcing

New Year’s Eve celebrations will still be on in Times Square, but with smaller crowds

NEW YORK — Revelers(狂欢者)will still ring in the new year in New York’s Times Square next week, there just won’t be as many of them as usual under new restrictions announced Thursday as the city struggles with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Viewing areas that normally accommodate about 58,000 people will be    1    about 15,000 to allow for more distancing, and everyone in attendance must show proof of vaccination(接种疫苗)and wear a mask, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news release    2    the changes.

“There is a lot to celebrate and these additional safety measures will keep the fully vaccinated crowd safe and healthy as we ring in the New Year,” de Blasio said, noting the city’s success in getting residents vaccinated while also keeping businesses open.

The added precautions for New Year’s Eve in Times Square were spurred by the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the Big Apple, where lines for testing have snaked around blocks in recent days.

On Wednesday, the city set yet another one-day testing record with 22,808 new cases, though a true comparison to the number of cases during the initial COVID-19 surge in spring 2020 is impossible because tests were very limited at the time.

Because of vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths from the current surge are far fewer than at the pandemic’s height.

The new wave of cases has    3    to the cancellation of concerts, sporting events and Broadway shows, but de Blasio has shown a strong preference for having the annual Times Square ball drop go on as    4    — the last major event of his eight-year tenure(任期), which ends Jan.1.

Little more than a month ago, de Blasio gladly announced that a fully vaccinated crowd of hundreds of thousands of people would be back at the iconic celebration — dressing goofy 2022-themed glasses and watching a crystal-clad ball drop at midnight — after it was limited last year to small groups of essential workers.

But that was before omicron caught fire,     5    city officials and event organizers to rethink just how many people they wanted to squeeze into the bright, billboard-lined tourist haven known to some as the Crossroads of the World.

On Tuesday, the Fox network gave its decision, pulling the plug on a planned live broadcast from the New Year’s Eve event.Other networks plan to air the festivities, including Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC, the loyal program now hosted by Ryan Seacrest.

De Blasio said along with Thursday’s announcement that the city is    6    the COVID-19 situation and could impose additional precautions if needed.Among the other changes announced Thursday, revelers won’t be allowed into viewing areas until 3 p.m., much later than in past years.

On New Year’s Eve last year, Times Square was mostly empty, with Jennifer Lopez and other artists     7    behind police walls. After vaccines became widely available in the U.S., the city allowed crowds back to the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and other events.

“New York is the best place in the world to celebrate New Year’s Eve and now it will be one of the safest against COVID as well,” Mayor-elect Eric Adams said in a written statement supporting the new precautions.

“New Yorkers and visitors alike can now enjoy Times Square and the rest of our city as we ring in 2022.”

【推荐3】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. associated   B. Additionally   C. countless   D. existence   E. fundamental F. highlight   G. Meanwhile   H. signal   I. strengthened   J. surprise   K. uniquely

What Sociology Can Teach UsAbout Thanksgiving

Sociologists （社会学家） believe that the celebrations practiced within any given culture serve to restate that culture’s most important values and beliefs. This theory dates back to founding sociologist Émile Durkheim and has been proved true by     1     researchers over more than a century’s time. According to sociologists, by examining a celebration, we can come to understand some     2     things about the culture in which it is practiced. In this spirit, let’s take a look at what Thanksgiving reveals about us.

It may not be much of a（n）     3     that coming together to share a meal with loved ones indicates how important relationships with friends and family are in our culture, which is far from a（n）     4     American thing. When we gather together to share in this holiday, we effectively say, “Your     5     and our relationship is important to me,” and in doing so, that relationship is restated and     6    . But there are some less obvious and more interesting things going on too.

In most households across the U. S. women and girls do the work of preparing, serving, and cleaning up after the Thanksgiving meal.     7    , most men and boys are likely to be watching and/or playing football. Of course, neither of these activities are exclusively gendered, but they are generally so. This means that Thanksgiving serves to     8     the distinct roles we believe men and women should play in society, and even what it means to be a man or a woman in our society today.

One of the most interesting sociological research findings is that overeating     9     with Thanksgiving illustrates American materialism and abundance. Sociologists found that the celebrations and how we talk about these experiences     10     that Thanksgiving is really about celebrating “material abundance” — having a lot of stuff, especially food, available for use.