Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fir
each of the following questions.
"what the tadj-iest
The end of December and the beginning of January are (the (1) times for the Japanese post offices. Th
Japanese have a custom of (2) _________ New Year's Day postcards to their friends and relatives, similar (3) th
Western custom of sending Christmas cards. Their original purpose was (4) your faraway friends and relative
tidings of yourself and your immediate family. In other words. (5) custom existed for people to tell other
whom they did not often meet that they were alive and well.
Japanese people send these postcards (6)
they arrive on 1 January. The post office guarantees to deliver th
greeting postcards (7)
1st January if they are posted within a time limit. To deliver these cards on time, th
students part-time to help deliver the letters.
post office usually (8)
It is customary not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family (9) __________the year. In this case,
family member sends a simple postcard called mochũ hagaki (mourning postcards) to inform friends and relativ
they (10)
send New Year's cards, out of respect for the deceased.
4