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.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, my mother was not among the many happy mothers, as I couldn’t visit her this year. I made a ___on the phone that I would go to see her as soon as possible.

My mother always says that kids don’t need to ___a national day to say they love their mums. However, I remember one year I ___calling her on that very day, and the next morning she rang up to complain about it.

If you ___Thailand, you could hear the sentimental(伤感的) songs about mothers’ greatest love playing in ___places a week before the holiday. Schools, especially, are places that take this day very ___. Back in my teenage years, I ___there was once a Mother’s Day singing ___and my friend represented the school. She was so emotional while singing the famous song on Mother’s Day ___Kah Nam Nom that she almost didn’t finish the song.

However, her deep connection to the song helped her to ____third prize. After the contest, I asked her why she was so emotional ____the song. She told me that while she was singing, suddenly she had the ____that one day her mother would no longer be with her and every word in the song became ____. Every time I hear this song, it’s not my mother who ____to my mind but a ____of my friend crying with a microphone in her hand. The image ____vivid today.

Last week, a colleague ____an experience with me — every year on Mother’s Day, she has to attend a ____ceremony at her daughter’s school. Every year the teachers invite ____to the school for a big gathering in which students pay ____with flower garlands(花环). She said that the event was filled with the sobbing sounds mixed with Mother’s Day anthems.

Many cultures follow different calendars and celebrate the New Year at different times. The Lunar New Year is one example. No matter_________you celebrate, there are many traditions around the world for_________in the New Year. Here is a look at a few of them:

Chasing away bad luck

Many cultures have traditions meant to scare off demons (恶魔) and bad luck. This often involves using fire or loud noises — or both — often in the_________of fireworks! But there are other ways people do it, too. In Scotland, for example, people hold bonfire celebrations. And men from villages walk through the streets swinging giant blazing (炽热的) fireballs over their heads. These fireballs_________the sun and they are supposed to clean the_________year.

Of course, some traditions meant to avoid bad luck do not_________fire at all. For example, just before the New Year, people in Denmark find the highest surface they can and jump from it as the New Year starts. This ritual symbolizes that they_________the bad spirits and bad luck of the previous and enter a New Year full of_________and new beginnings.

Food for good luck

Many_________have certain foods that are said to bring good luck.

In the southern part of the United States, people often eat black-eyed peas and pork for good luck in the New Year. In other parts of the US, people eat sauerkraut with pork sausage on New Year’s Day.

In Spain and some other countries, as the clock__________midnight, people eat 12 grapes. These 12 grapes__________the 12 months of the year. And eating them all in the first 12 seconds of the New Year__________that the year will be filled with good luck.

In the Philippines, many people eat and display 12 round fruits to bring them a__________year.

And in Japan, people eat soba noodles on New Year’s Eve. While they eat they try not to__________the long noodles — which represent__________.