1 . I’d never been to a Day of the Dead festival before. As my dad and I looked around for seats, I _______ Marco, my best friend, hurrying toward us. “Hi, Mr. O’kane,” he _______ my dad. Then he turned to me. “Nate! Will you help me?"

“Whatever you need,” I said.

Marco threw me parts of a _______ : Mexican sandals（凉鞋）, a straw hat, a cane(手杖), a gray wig, and an“ old man” mask（面具）. “My cousin couldn’t_______ !” Marco’s voice rang with worry.

“It’s part of a traditional dance” he said.

“You expect me to dance? ” I _______ . “I don’t dance!”

Marco smiled. “It’ll be fun. And hurry! We’re _______ late.”

“ We’re going to do a lot of stomping(跺脚). Slow at first. Keep one hand _______ on your back, like an old man with an ache.” added Marco.

The speakers _______ : “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for The Dance of the Little Old Men!”

“Be quick,” Marco _______ to me to follow his lead.

We all began stomping slowly to music. I could only see ________ the small holes of the mask. I continued to stomp, trying to ________ what to do. I leaned on my cane and kept a hand low on my back. After a few minutes of dancing like that, my back ________ started to ache.

The music ________ . And we stomped quickly. Performing with Mexican sandals was ________ . People laughed as we hopped and kicked, but after a moment the laughter turned into cheers.

Marco gave me a thumbs-up. As the audience clapped for our group, I said to him happily, “You were right. That was ________ .”

2 . I just marked my first Mid-Autumn Festival celebration in China._______a week after arriving for my graduate studies, I was kind of homesick—memories of past _______ back in Serbia with family and friends exchanging scenes in my mind. On the morning of Friday, September 13rd, the _______ on the campus was very cheerful. Chinese students explained to us the importance of the day as gifts of mooncakes were _______ . Then came the night. The full moon appeared: huge, _______ball high above the campus, and eyes looked at it with _______. Unlike previous nights, a cool breeze swept through the campus.With Serbian music playing on my headphones, I danced my way, _______ in the wind, and forgetting myself for a moment.

As I _______ back into my room, I was fascinated by the festival’s idea. My _______ mind pushed me online where I came across the poem Prelude (前奏) to Water Melody, by the well-known Chinese writer Su Dongpo. This poem concisely(精确地) seized what I was ________ . The message and the tone both resonated (共鸣) with my feelings. Writing to his family, Su wondered what time it was back at home. ________ the time differences between China and Serbia, I was constantly trying to ________ what time it was back at home.

Eventually, Su asked his family to join him in ________ the timeless perfection of a full moon in a ________ night.What a way to finish! I, too, was hoping that all was well with my family. Despite the distance and ________ that comes with not seeing or hearing from a loved one, we were all flourishing (繁盛的) under the watch of the ________ moon.

And while we may go away from home, as happens from time to time; the family remains the most important ________ to our productive existence. As the Chinese used the holiday to ________ with the loved ones, the Serbian community also got together, shared a meal and walked on the streets under the neon (霓虹灯) lights.

As I write this, a day after the Festival, I cannot help but look forward to the next. Thank my Chinese friends, whose________ made me and a crowd of other foreign students experience an ________Mid-Autumn Festival.

3 . My tenth Christmas was one I was not looking forward to. Money was tight. Mom said we were old enough not to have __________. Just being together would be enough.

We weren’t the only family in our small community who would have a __________ Christmas. But knowing that others were going through the same thing didn’t __________ much.

One night we had a small pity party for each other.

“How can I even wear that same old dress one more time?” I __________.

“I know,” said my sister. “I think I might as well give up asking for a __________.”

The next day, Mom told us that she had been saving up and shopping around so that we could give the Walters family a Christmas basket.

“If anyone needs some __________, it’s the Walters.” Mom said.

The Walters! They were the strangest people we knew. How could Mom be so __________ with them when our own family didn’t have enough?

Mom was determined. She packed flour and sugar, a small turkey, some fruits in a basket and asked us to __________ it to the Walters.

I really didn’t like to have anything to do with them. Not wanting to be __________, we left the basket on the doorstep and hid behind a nearby bush.

Seeing the Waiters gather up the basket, I asked my sister in whisper, “Did they look happy?”

“Well, yeah, happy, but mostly they looked like they were thinking: Maybe we do belong.”

Christmas morning arrived. To my great __________, I received a beautiful dress. I couldn’t believe it’s for me, I was about to __________ when we noticed Dad ride up on a new horse. My sister screamed and ran out. She couldn’t __________ to meet her “gift”.

“Mom, how did you do all this?” I asked. “We were __________ for a no-present Christmas.”

“Oh, not necessarily trading but just helping each other. Mrs. Olsen at the dress shop let me bring your gift home. Dad offered to __________ up Mrs, Marshall’s tree lights. Mr. Jones had a horse and he was __________ to know we had someone to love it.”

“I thought since you were giving away food to the Walters, we would never have enough. They really don’t have anything to give in __________.”

“We are like a big family. Never __________ who can or who can’t give. The most important is that we should listen to our hearts. Perhaps the right gifts will end up with the right families.”

Mom always knew __________. Thinking about the expression on the Walters’s faces when they discovered the Christmas basket, I realized their “__________” feeling was more precious than any of the gifts.

That was the Christmas that I learned about the magic of __________.