2018年6月六级 第2套 Section A 选词填空

Did Sarah Josepha Hale write "Mary 's Little Lamb," the eternal nursery rhyme (儿歌) about a girl named Mary with a stubborn lamb? This is still dispute, but it's clear that the woman __26__ for writing it was one of America 's most fascinating __27__. In honor of the poem 's publication on May 24,1830, here's more about the __28__ author 's life.

Hale wasn't just a writer, she was also a __29__ social advocate, and she was particularly __30__ with an ideal New England, which she associated with abundant Thanksgiving meals that she claimed had "a deep moral influence." She began a nationwide __31__ to have a national holiday declared that would bring families together while celebrating the __32__ festivals. In 1863, after 17 years of advocacy including letters to five presidents, Hale got it. President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, issued a __33__ setting aside the last Thursday in November for the holiday.

The true authorship of "Mary's Little Lamb" is disputed.. According to New England Historical Society, Hale wrote only one part of the poem, but claimed authorship. Regardless of the author, it seems that the poem was __34__ by a real event. When young Mary Sawyer was followed to school by a lamb in 1816, it caused some problems. A bystander named John Roulstone wrote a poem about the event, then, at some point, Hale herself seems to have helped write it. However, if a 1916 piece by her great-niece is to be trusted, Hale claimed for the __35__ of her life that "Some other people pretended that someone else wrote the poem".