However, many people, either refusing to accept the new date or not having heard about it, 17 to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1.
答案：(D) continued
本句主要子句缺少限定動詞，須填過去式 continued；continue 為現在式，與前一句 In 1582 的時間背景不合，continuing 是分詞、to continue 是不定詞，兩者都不能單獨當主要動詞。
你知道「一個句子要有一個動詞」，但主詞 many people 後面被一長串插入語打斷——either refusing to accept the new date or not having heard about it——等讀到空格時已經忘了主詞是誰、還缺不缺動詞。
先把句型的骨幹看出來，這一題與 104 年第 18 題是同一個結構：S ，插入的修飾語，___V___把兩個逗號之間的成分遮掉，句子剩下 However, many people ___ to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1.——主詞 many people 後面顯然缺一個主要動詞，所以空格非動詞不可。（那一長串 either refusing... or not having heard... 是兩個並列的分詞片語，用來補充說明這些人的狀態，分詞不能當主要動詞。）認出這一點之後，continuing 與 to continue 都是非限定形式，先刪掉。這裡有一個很多人會踩的陷阱：剩下的 continued 長得跟過去分詞一模一樣，很容易被一起歸進「非限定、不能當主要動詞」那一堆，四個選項一口氣刷掉三個，只剩 continue，時態又對不上，於是卡死。但 continue 是規則動詞，過去式與過去分詞同形，光看字尾分不出來——要看它位於句子裡的什麼位置。這個位置需要一個主要動詞，所以它是過去式，不是過去分詞。（同理，The company closed last year. 的 closed 也是過去式，不是「被關閉」。）最後才是時態：剩下 continue 與 continued，本句自己沒有任何時間標記，依據在前一句——In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar…。全篇在敘述十六世紀的歷史，動詞一律用過去式，所以是 continued。這一格屬於跨句題，光看本句判不出來。
國中學過主詞與動詞中間可以插入修飾語（The boy in the blue shirt is my brother.），本題只是插入語特別長。遇到長插入語，先用括號把它括起來，句子結構就露出來了。
continuing：現在分詞，不能單獨當主要動詞；填進去整句就變成一串修飾語接一串修飾語，從頭到尾沒有動詞。to continue：不定詞，同樣是非限定形式。continue：原形。全篇敘述的是十六世紀發生的事，現在式與整段的時態不合。
S, 插入的修飾語, V（主詞與動詞被長插入語隔開）、continue to V／continue V-ing（繼續做）、either A or B（不是 A 就是 B）、not having ＋ 過去分詞（完成式分詞，表更早發生）、refuse to V（拒絕做）、規則動詞的過去式與過去分詞同形（看位置判斷）。
April Fools' Day, one of the most light-hearted days of the year, has an unclear origin. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons from winter to spring; others, however, believe that it 16 the adoption of a new calendar. Ancient cultures celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1, which roughly coincides with the beginning of spring.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar, which called for New Year's Day to be celebrated on January 1. However, many people, either refusing to accept the new date or not having heard about it, 17 to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to fool them into believing something false. 18 , the practice spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
Nowadays, on April Fools' Day, people often 19 to create elaborate hoaxes to fool others. Newspapers, radio and TV stations, and websites have participated in the April 1 tradition of making 20 reports in order to fool their audiences. The BBC once reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a spaghetti crop and showed scenes of people harvesting noodles from trees. Guess what? Numerous viewers were fooled.