2 . 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 ________ .”

3 . 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.

Americans prefer to try every way to have fun. For example, they drive their own cars, some even tow a small boat after vehicle. They start from Los Angeles, California under sun, _______ through four or five hundred miles to go to La Fulin, Colorado to spend weekends while Chinese people are still _______ with work, and have dinner at home together with families at weekends or _______ time watching TV.

The difference is mainly due to cultural customs and traditions _______ the two countries. It is said that Chinese people are living for others, while Americans are for _______. When Chinese people come to the United States, they fight for _______ first, and then desperately make money after they are recognized by others. It seems that, the purpose to earn money is not to enjoy life, _______ for their following generations sons and daughters and even grandchildren. Chinese people prefer to save money _______ emergency, such as illness. Although Chinese people with _______ in the United States don’t need to worry about their own social welfare and health insurance, they work still very hard, as they hope that they can ________ more money.

Chinese people’s interest is in the amount on the passbook(存折), so they spend ________ money usually.

Most of Chinese are very thrifty(节约的), and they are ________ to spend money, but there are exceptions. They are willing to spend money on their ________. Many Chinese people think that, they endure(容忍) many ________, so they wish that their children could live much better. Therefore, in the United States elementary schools, you can see that those who ________ the best clothes , with more pocket money are Chinese students. In contrast, American children dress very simply, with just a little pocket money.

________ Chinese, Americans believe in living for themselves. They do everything for their own. ________, they earn money to enjoy a ________ life, and pursue a higher quality of life. As for their own parents or children, they think that parents have their own pension and social welfare, and children should live a(n) ________ life when they are 18’ years old. So they could boldly spend money on themselves. ________, Americans save little money. In the street, it is easy for Chinese to take out 300-400 dollars, but it is hard to say for Americans.

5 . April Fool’s Day is a western festival. No one _______ exactly when and how April Fool’s Day began.

However, there are some stories about _______ it came into being. One story _______like this: in the sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was on April first. It was celebrated _______much the same way _______it is today with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night. Then in 1562, Pope (教皇) Gregory introduced a new calendar (日历) for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people, _______, who hadn’t heard or didn’t believe the _______in the date, so they _______to celebrate New Year’s Day on April first. _______played tricks on them and called them “April fools”. They tried to make them believe that something false was ________. In France today, April first is called “April Fish”. French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends’ ________. When the “young fool” ________this trick, the prankster (恶作剧者) shouts “April Fish!”

Today Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. One ________trick on April Fool’s Day is ________to a friend’s shoe and saying, “Your shoelace is united (开了).” School children might tell a classmate that school has been canceled. ________the trick is, if you fail for the joke the prankster shouts “April Fool!”

In Britain today, on the first of April, even ________newspapers, radio and TV programs tell big lies. You ________read a science ________showing that doctors have found a way to cure AIDS, ________you would probably listen to a piece of news about an UFO________on an island.

6 . Geraniums of Love

As the fifth of seven children, I went to the same public school as my three elder sisters and brother. Every year, my mother went to the same ceremony and had parent-child interviews（亲子交流会）with the same teachers. The only thing different was the child. And every child _______ an old

Third grade was the first time that I was allowed to take part in the plant sale. I wanted to surprise my mother. _______, I didn't have any money. I went to my eldest sister and _______ the secret, and she gave me some money. When I arrived at the plant sale, I carefully made my _______. I agonized（苦苦思索）over that decision, _______ each plant to ensure that I had indeed found the best geranium. The moment I had smuggled it home, with the help of my sister, I _______ it on the upstairs neighbor’s porch. I was very afraid my mother would find it before Mother's Day, but my sister assured me that she wouldn't, and _______ she did not.

When Mother's Day arrived, I was bursting with pride when I gave her that geranium. I remember how bright her eyes were, and how delighted she was with my _______.

The year I was fifteen, my younger sister reached third grade. In early May, she came to me full of wonder and secrecy and told me that there was going to be a plant sale at school and she wanted to __________ our mother. Like my __________ sister did for me, I gave her some money and off she went. She arrived at home full of __________ excitement, the geranium hidden in a paper bag __________ her sweater. “I looked at every plant,” she explained, “and I know I got the __________ one!”

I helped my little __________ hide that geranium on the upstairs neighbor's porch, assuring that our mother wouldn't find it before Mother's Day. I was there when she gave my mother the geranium, and I watched them both bursting with pride and __________. It was like being in a dream I had already dreamed. My mother noticed me __________, and she gave me a soft secret smile. Shocked and puzzled, I __________ back. I had been wondering how my mother could __________ to be surprised at this gift from her sixth child. But as I watched her eyes light up with delight as she was __________   with that most precious gift, I knew she was not pretending.