The Chinese New Year is a big traditional holiday in Singapore. On its Eve, while many wil

l 【C1】______ for the reunion dinner, others will head for the airport or train station to "flee" 【C2】______ such festivities. With a 【C3】______ number of Singaporeans going on overseas tours during this time, the Chinese New Year holiday has in recent years become a 【C4】______ season for travel agents, 【C5】______ it Used to be a lull period for them. Isn't Chinese New Year the 【C6】______ important traditional festival for the Chinese？ Well, for those who choose to 【C7】______ flight, it means an opportunity to enjoy a holiday out of the country. The concern is, if even Chinese New Year can be 【C8】______ , what other traditional festivals cannot be disregarded？ Why do we need to 【C9】______ traditional festivals？ Firstly, they are inseparable from our ethnic identity. The Chinese, Malays and Indians all have their own traditional festivals 【C10】______ which they derive "a sense of belonging to a particular community". So if any Chinese does not see himself 【C11】______ one, there is no need for him to celebrate any Chinese festivals. True, everyone has the right to 【C12】______ traditions. The problem is: you cannot deny your ethnic origins or change your skin color. We are 【C13】______ with a certain skin color which cannot be "bleached"—if one has a "yellow face" and yet refuse to 【C14】______ with the Chinese, who else can he or she identify with？ Secondly, the 【C15】______ spirit of the more than 2000-year-old Chinese New Year is closely intertwined with the traditional culture and values of the Chinese. 【C16】______ its core is the Confucian value of good interpersonal relationships. Traditional Chinese festivals 【C17】______ center on maintaining and improving human relations. Reunion dinner helps to 【C18】______ family ties while the exchange of gifts and greetings enhance relations among friends. To skip the reunion dinner and stay 【C19】______ from Chinese New Year means losing many great opportunities to forge stronger kinship and friendship ties. A tradition must be capable of being 【C20】______ down from one generation to another. Yet this does not mean traditions cannot be changed.

【C1】

A．separate

B．invite

C．gather

D．long