Our personal celebrations, 22 weddings, promotions, graduations, and anniversaries, are 23 linked with drinking. 24 children can attend any family affair without seeing the adults enjoying their liquor.
答案：(C) closely
【句型】closely linked with 是字詞搭配，表示「與……緊密相關」；simply／clumsily／carefully 都不是 linked with 常見的搭配副詞。
本題大考中心未公布逐題答對率，以下不談數據，只談觀念。
四個選項都是副詞，中文差很遠，照理不難分；難的是如果沒把 linked with 當成一個整體去想，會覺得「小心地連結」「單純地連結」好像也說得通。
四個選項都是副詞，可見這一格考的是它與 linked 的搭配。整句是 Our personal celebrations ... are ___ linked with drinking.（我們個人的慶祝場合……與喝酒連在一起。）要說的是「緊密地」連在一起，固定說法是 closely linked with。同一組還有 be closely related to（與……密切相關）、be closely connected with（與……緊密相連），共同的意思都是「關係很近」。再用整段驗算：作者要證明的是「喝酒已經滲入美國人的每一個慶祝場合」，語氣需要的正是「緊密」而不是「小心」或「笨拙」。
carefully（小心地）：修飾的是做事的態度，而「連結」在這裡是一種既成的關係，不是誰小心去做的動作。simply（只是、單純地）：語氣是輕描淡寫，與整段要強調的普遍性相反。clumsily（笨拙地）：語意完全不合。
be closely linked with（與……緊密相連）、be closely related to（與……密切相關）、be connected with（與……有關）、a promotion（升遷）、a graduation（畢業）、liquor（烈酒）。
America encourages its young people to drink. 21 , our society makes drinking a part of every celebration. Our personal celebrations, 22 weddings, promotions, graduations, and anniversaries, are 23 linked with drinking. 24 children can attend any family affair without seeing the adults enjoying their liquor. Drinking is part of our national celebrations as well. The Fourth of July means beer and New Year's Eve is an entire night dedicated to the proposition that everyone must get 25 .
Secondly, the shows young people watch on television encourage them to drink. On 26 every soap opera, the characters drink casually and often. The rock videos young people watch over and over again feature alcohol, too. 27 on the videos sit in bars, nightclubs, and roadhouses. Drinking, the message goes, is cool.
The strongest encouragement to drink that young people receive, 28 , comes from advertisers. Beer companies often sponsor the sports events young people watch. In addition, advertisements for liquor, on TV and in print, show situations that are 29 to the young. People hoist their glasses 30 they are sitting around ski lodges, sailing, dancing, or enjoying a football game. We may say we don't want our children to drink, but our messages say just the opposite.