7 . There isn’t a book that I always _________ to at this most wonderful time of year, as jingle-bell _________ has it. Having said that, my husband is much more Christmassy than me and there are two texts he has made a(an) _________ part of the family festival, like the _________ tributes to the dawn of next year led by the calendar.

This Christmas, then, the following unchanging ritual (仪式) will be _________. He shooed us to the sitting room, withdrawing a shiny black long-playing _________ from its ancient, crumbling sleeve and place it on the turntable.

When he did this the first time our children were _________, as up to that point in their young and tech-centric lives they’d never seen such a thing before. They were quite happy to watch it go round and round _________ the point of the ritual was the spinning disk, whatever sound was coming out of the two ancient speakers.

“Richard Burton is the best,” my husband then cut in _________. As the dark Welsh __________ of Burton began to narrate (解说) Dylan Thomas’s radio drama Under Milk Wood, the children would settle in silence, __________ their listening positions in the sitting room by the fire, only slightly anxious about how to convey without complaining out loud their deep concerns about being detained too long from toys, televisions and presents.

My husband will sonorously (洪亮地) __________ his favourite bits so we all benefit from hearing the words in stereo (立体声). Our Master’s Voice and Burton’s declaiming Under Milk Wood together.

“It is a spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black…”

Filled with seasonal feeling and wonder as any bible reading or carol, the best bit for me is watching my children’s faces as the __________ words make pictures in their heads __________ Dylan Thomas’s unimprovable formulations: they see the dogs in the wet-nosed yards and they hear the hushed town breathing.

This is as much a part of Christmas as a Festival of Ten Lessons and Carols from Kings to all my family, and this is __________ :Even though cold and silence and blackness run through the piece like a layer of __________ , it beats with heat and warmth. It is a celebration of humanity. Compare the words of “Silent Night” to this:

“Time passes. Listen. Time passes. Only you can hear the houses sleeping in the streets in the slow deep salt and silent black, bandaged night. ”

Of course, on the face of it, Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales is the more __________ text, and my husband will often play or read that too. The __________ lines of A Child’s Christmas, “I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I __________ ,” are perfectly final. Dylan Thomas rounds off his little story of his Welsh childhood as Shakespeare rounds off our little lives — with a sleep.

All is dark, all is bright in both, but the one I ponder __________ my heart is Under Milk Wood.

8 . Fancy, feathered, and fascinating, these birds surprised portrait photographer Alex ten Napel with their beauty and charisma.

In the Netherlands, Alex ten Napel makes miniature (微型的)runways in barns and backyards to capture the essence of chickens such as this Polish rooster. “I consider them walking pieces of art, “ he says.

A chicken “is not just an animal that gives us eggs, ” says Alex ten Napel, who’s been wandering his home country of the Netherlands in search of farm fowl since 2014. Taking inspiration from Melchior d’ Hondecoeter, a 17th-century Dutch artist known for his work with birds, ten Napel uses lighting, backdrops， and an elevated， catwalk-like stage to bring chickens out of the coop (笼子)and into an entirely new context.

“What I hope you see in the photos is that chickens can be proud beings or funny beings, “ he says. ”They can be like gymnasts or ballerinas. Not what most people think of when you talk about chickens. “ While each animal has different characteristics, ten Napel has noticed the emergence of some patterns throughout his travels. Roosters, or male chickens, tend to be large, visually striking, and imposing (仪表堂堂的)，he says. But it’s the females ten Napel finds himself drawn toward. “I have a heart for the hens. They’re so vulnerable, ” he says. “They move me in a way that I want to protect them. “

Ten Napel first came face-to-face with a chicken while he was camping in the Pyrenees Mountains about 10 years ago. He felt an immediate connection to the species, which then became his main photographic muse.

A specialist in portrait photography, ten Napel paid attention to children and older adults-for 25 years. The chickens, he says, have reignited his passion for this type of photography. “I can’t direct them. I have to be patient and feel how they will show themselves, ”he adds. “Everything they give you is a gift. “

10 . Dr. Smith of New York works at a center for children who can’t learn well. One day a father brought his son to him for________ at his office.

The father told Dr. Smith about his son. “My son has ________ in learning and can’t even play baseball. He isn’t doing well because he doesn’t try. I have done everything for him. I have even shouted at him. But nothing ________. ”

After Dr. Smith tested the boy, he ________ his father. He asked the father to sit in front of a ________ and then gave him a pencil and a piece of paper. There was a ________ on the paper. He asked the father to look only in the mirror and ________ the lines of the star with the pencil. The father made the same ________ anyone makes. Every time he ________ the pencil, it went the wrong way. The father’s face became red.

At this ________ the doctor shouted at him, “Hurry up! Why are you ________ so long? You can’t do such an ________ thing! You don’t know left from right!” These ________ made the father very angry.

“Now you can ________, can’t you?” The doctor said to him. “Your son has felt just like that all the time. You scolded (训斥) him too often, so he didn't try any more. He was afraid of making mistakes. ”

________ the father understood everything. He put his face down. Now he felt so sorry.