In the United States, the most popular form of folk dancing since the early days has been square dancing. In early times, when men and women worked in groups to _________ a barn(谷仓)for harvest crops, they danced when the work was done. The music _________ from a violin for the most part. But if there was no one to play all instrument, clapping was used to _________ the rhythm(节奏)by which to dance. The early settlers danced in a store, in a barn, or in a farm kitchen.

After some years _________, square dancing became _________ popular in cities and towns, but it _________ popular in the country. Then it became popular in the cities once again. Today in _________ Darts of the United States you will find some school, club or other group that is square dancing for fun.

A square is formed by four couples who stand _________ the center of the square. Each couple stands on one _________ of the square, the boy on the left and the girl on the right.

The “caller” is an important part of the ____________ since he tells the dancers which steps to do.   If the dancers do not know the steps, he teaches them.It ____________ time to learn to be a good caller, and good callers are always in demand.

Large or small groups of people can dance at one time. Sometimes 800 or 1, 000 people may be dancing at the ____________ time. Or there may be only one square of ____________ people.

Costumes are worn by some who square dance. This ____________ the dancing more colorful to watch. The costumes vary from place to place.Women often wear full skirts of various colors with pretty blouse. Men may have colored skirts and western trousers which they wear____________ when square dancing.

When I was young, I never had a special Christmas gift that I dreamed of and was crazy about. I know I _______ a lot of great Christmas presents as I grew up. Chatty Cathy, Baby Thumbelina, Little Miss No Name…I just don't remember _______ them. Although my parents had their financial _______, they always made Christmas special for their four children. Dad worked a(n) _______ job as a referee in high school basketball games to _______ a little more cash, and Mum was the queen of bargain shopping. The gifts _______ have been inexpensive, but there was more than enough under the tree.

Stored in happy memories are the family _______: helping Mum and Dad drag the Christmas decorations out of the attic, going with Dad to _______ the tree from the Kiwanis, and decorating the tree _______ strings of blue lights and Christmas lasting days and days and days. The piles of ________ under our tree wrapped in newspaper are more memorable than ________ was wrapped. The act itself of unwrapping and ________ seeing what was beneath the newspaper was ________ and memorable. But the most clear are the images of smiles, the sounds of ________, not the images of toys or clothes.

It's the ________ of Christmas. The best moments, the happy moments were not the gifts,________ the togetherness, the love of family. Even in the occasional quarrels of brothers and sisters, even in the ________ of late nights, even in the sometime stress of it all.

Christmas should not ________ on what's on our gift lists. For it's not about what gifts we ________ or receive, but about what we do, what we experience.

Those are the happy moments that ________.

April Fool’s Day

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 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 sticking 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 __________ down to a friends shoe and saying, “Your shoelace is untied.” School children might tell a classmate that school has been canceled(取消). __________ the trick is, if you fail for the joke the prankster shouts “April Fool!”