Perhaps you’ve attended some parties. But like New York，where a party or dinner often __36__ business with pleasure, a Washington party is a __37__ part of the business of politics, the business of making __38__ connections.
Some Washington parties have a __39__ aura (气氛) about them, depending on who gives them and who is there, but most parties are open-house __40__ in fact, with the hosts not knowing most of the __41__ who are there.
