2018年6月大学英语六级听力常考时文：Burning of the Socks to Celebrate the Coming of Spring

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　　1.When did the of Burning of the Socks begin? In ...
        　　2.Among whom was the sock-burning ritual popular at first? ..
        　　3.During what time didn't the most hard-core sock haters wear socks? From
the spring equinox until ...
        　　In sailing-crazy Annapolis, boaters celebrate the first day of spring with
a ceremonial Burning of the Socks, signifying it will soon be warm enough to
wear shoes without socks. The tradition began in the mid-1980s, when an employee
at Annapolis Yacht Yard tired of his winter days doing engine maintenance on
yachts and power boats. He stripped off his stinky socks, put them in a paint
can with some lighter fluid and drank a beer while looking forward to warmer
days ahead. At first, this was only confined to the people who worked on boats,
but the sock-burning ritual now draws more than boatyard workers. Even wealthy
sailboat owners delight in throwing tube socks and panty hose on the flames in
this town, whose residents have a special disdain for socks. Waterfront
restaurants that serve big crab feasts draw men wearing leather loafers sans
socks. Annapolis resident Michael Busch joked that socks constitute formal wear
around here. The most hard-core sock haters refuse to wear them from the spring
equinox until the first day of winter. “The uniform is deck shoes and khaki
pants in winter. The uniform is deck shoes and khaki shorts in summer.” Holland
said with a laugh. The sock bonfire, he said, is a way of remembering Annapolis’
bygone days of working-class watermen who brought in crabs in the summer and
scraped the paint off wooden vessels in the winter. These days, the bonfire
revelers retire for crab cakes and oysters after burning their socks.