Now that the Spring Festival is over, I   only have   school to look forward to. It's   ______ funny.I find   myself looking forward more and more to school.

As usual, ______ can get little work ______ during   the winter vacation. For one thing, the Spring Festival   is always a big distraction (使人快乐之事), and for   days before and after ______   can get any work done. It's   all right if you really have a nice time, as I used to. But   now I find myself ______ it less and less.I ______   enjoying fireworks and firecrackers years ago. The firecrackers especially get on my nerve. I really think we   should stop making them, as every year many children   have their eyes hurt or even   ______. Even worse, sometimes fires ______ out and whole buildings get ______ down.Still I suppose we'll continue to make them ______ there is a market for them.

And the ______！ People spend days buying. The   result too much and too rich which does nobody any   good: chicken, duck, fish, meat and so on. What's   ______， they become ______， too. Too   much of a good thing, as we say, and this visiting business too. It's all   right for a few really good friends ______ together and chat over some tea or drinks. But mere acquaintance and the usually not too neighborly neighbors dropping ______ to say hello, — well, I suppose these are well­intended gestures, but I find them a pain in the   neck (讨厌的家伙). Usually there is nothing to talk about ______ some meaningless words.

Oh yes, I ______ myself skating on the nearby lake   ______ a few times. The ice is not too good now and   getting very ______. I stopped going before the Spring Festival. But there are people who are ______ too reckless (不计后果的) or too ignorant or both, and we hear about people falling through thin ice every year.

In 2017, I began my service as a volunteer in a village in the West African nation of Benin. I expected to feel   _______ during the holiday, longing for the _______ at home far in Canada. However, in Benin, I felt _______, mostly due to the people around me.

Life in Benin was definitely _______. In addition to teaching five classes, I had to _______ a different living situation. There was no electricity or running water.

As I grew more comfortable with life in Benin, I decided to _______ them to my house for a feast of a Beninese favorite: spaghetti omelets( 意大利面煎蛋饼) on Thanksgiving Day.

Since I didn’t have enough time to _______ the meal, all my host family, colleagues and friends _______ and joined in. I appreciated being in their _______, for they had helped me feel at home in Benin. ________ broke out as I admitted that I felt so lucky to be with my new Beninese “family” on this ________ day.

________ like this helped me discover that we all had a great deal ________. In a way, Beninese celebrate   Thanksgiving every day. At the ________ of Beninese culture are strong familial ________ and a love for enjoying a meal together. As for me, serving as a volunteer taught me more about giving gratitude than any other ________ I’ve had.

I know that when I sit down at the table this year in Canada, surrounded by family and food, I will ________ appreciate everything I have in my life. But a great part of my heart will be ________ for Benin, longing to ________ just one more feast and telling everyone just one more time: I am ________ to you.

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 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__________down to a friend’s 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!”

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 (治愈) AIDS,   __________you would probably listen to a piece of news about a UFO__________on an island.