run more familiar with them. Each week on TV, the Monkees would play and sing songs written by other musicians. However, after a year or so in which they became more serious about their work, the Monkees started to play and sing their own songs like a real band. Then they produced their own records and started touring and playing their own music. In the USA they became even more popular than the Beatles and sold even more records. The band broke up about 1970, but happily they reunited in the mid-1980s. They produced a new record in 1996, with which they celebrated their former time as a real band.Freddy the frog（）Not long after Freddy and the band became famous, they visited Britain on a brief tour. Fans showed their devotion by waiting for hours to get tickets for their concerts . Freddy was now quite confident when he went into a concert hall. He enjoyed singing and all the congratulations afterwards! His most exciting invitation was to perform on a TV programme called “ Top of pops “. He had to go to London, wear an expensive suit and give a performance to a TV camera. It felt very strange. But as soon as the programme was over, the telephones which were in the same room started ringing. Everybody was asking when they could see Freddy and his band again. They were truly stars.Then things went wrong. Freddy and his band could not go out anywhere without being followed. Even when they wore sunglasses or beards people recognized them. Fans found them even when they went into toilet. They tried to hide in the reading rooms of libraries, but it was useless. Someone was always there! Their personal life was regularly discussed by people who did not know them but talked as if they close friends. At last feeling very upset and sensitive, Freddy and his band realized that they must leave the country before it became too painful for them. So they left Britain, to which they were never to return, and went back to the lake.必修三Unit 1Festivals and celebrationsFestivals and celebrations of all kinds have been held everywhere since ancient times. Most ancient festivals would celebrate the end of cold weather,planting in spring and harvest in autumn. Sometimes celebrations would be held after hunters had caught animals. At that time people would starve if food was difficult to find, especially during the cold winter months. Todays festivals have many origins, some religious, some seasonal, and some for special people or events. Festivals of the Dead Some festivals are held to honour the dead or satisfy the ancestors, who might return either to help or to do harm. For the Japanese festival Obon, people should go to clean graves and light incense in memory of their ancestors. They also light lamps and play music because they think that this will lead the ancestors back to earth. In Mexico, people celebrate the Day of the Dead in early Novemver. On this important feast day, people eat food in the shape of skulls and cakes with “bones” on them. They offer food, flowers and gifts to the dead. The Western holiday Halloween also had its origin in old beliefs about the return of the spirits of dead people. It is now a childrens festival, when they can dress up an go to their neighbours homes to ask for sweets. If the neighbours do not give any sweers, the children might play a trick on them.Fetivals to Honour PeopleFestivals can also be held to honour famous people. The Dragon Boat Festival in China honours the famous ancient poet, Qu Yuan. In the USA, Columbus Day is in memory of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. India has a national festival on October 2 to honour Mohandas Gandhi, the leader who helped gain Indias independece from Britain.Harvest FestivalsHarvest and Thanksgiving festival can be very happy events. People are grateful because their food is gathered for the winter and the agricultural work is over. In European countries, people will usually decorate churches and town halls with flowers and fruit, and will get together to have meals. Some people might win awards for their farm produce, like the biggest watermelon or the most handsome rooster. China and Japan have mid-autumn festivals, when people admire the moon and in China, enjoy mooncakes.Spring FestivalsThe most energetic and important festivals are te ones that look forward to the end of winter and to the coming of spring. At the Spring Festival in China, people eat dumpings ifsh and meat and may give children lucky money in red paper. There are dragon dances and carnivals , and families celebrate the Lunar New Year together. Some Western countries have very exciting carnicals, which take place forty days before Easter, usually in February. These carnivals might include parades, dancing in the streets day and night, loud music and colourful clothing of all kinds. Easter is an important religious and social festival for Chiristians around the world. It celebrates the return of Jesus from the dead and the comin