Spring Festival(英文版春节介绍)(12页).doc

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1、-Spring Festival1. Tale of NianWe call the Spring Festival Nian, but did you know that Nian was once the name of a terrible, scary monster? A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It looked like an ugly dragon, and got angry easily. Nian ate animals. But in winter, it could not fin

2、d food. So it came to many villages and ate people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their doors before evening came during the winter. One day, an old man came to a village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three thingsred color, fire and noise. He told people to play drum

3、s and gongs (铜锣), make big fires and set off fireworks (放鞭炮) to make Nian go away.On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was really afraid and ran away. Wherever it went, there was noise and fire. Wh

4、en Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster.After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs, and set off fireworks to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They put up red lanterns (灯笼) and have a big dinner without sleeping during the night, an

5、d greet each other happily in the next morning.2. Brief Introduction of Spring FestivalThe Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busies

6、t time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees. The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month. Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in th

7、e early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.3. Preliminary CustomsM

8、any customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with rice，glutinous rice（糯米）, millet（小米）, coix seed（薏仁）, jujube berries（枣泥）, lotus seeds(莲子),

9、 beans, longan（桂圆） and gingko（白果）.The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. Thi

10、s is called Seeing the New Year in.Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. Whats more, various decorations, new clothes and

11、shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils（器具）.Then people begin decoratin

12、g their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing（喜悦） and festivity（欢庆）. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets（春联）, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners wishes for a bright future to good luck for

13、the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance（富足）. The Chinese character fu (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese

14、 the reversed fu is homophonic（谐音） with fu comes. Whats more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious（吉利的） meanings may be put on the wall.People attach great importance

15、 to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively ji, yu and doufu, mean auspiciousness（吉利）, abundance and richness. A

16、fter the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the

17、New Year in.4. New Year CustomsWaking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think jiaozi in sound m

18、eans bidding farewell to the old and ushering（迎接） in the new. Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone,

19、 niangao means higher and higher, one year after another. The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festiv

20、al. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to li

21、sten to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festiva

22、ls and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.本版附（可否单开一页？）Spring Festival Words春节实用词汇 农历lunar calendar 正月lunar January (the first month by lunar calendar )除夕eve of lunar New Year 元宵节The Lantern Festival 春联Spring Festival cou

23、plets (two successive rhyming lines in poetry) 剪纸paper-cuts 年画New Year paintings 守岁staying-up 买年货special purchases for the Spring Festival 敬酒propose a toast 灯笼lantern: a portable light 烟花fireworks 爆竹firecrackers (People scare off evil spirits and ghosts with the loud pop.) 红包red packets (cash wrappe

24、d up in red paper, symbolize fortune and wealth in the coming year.) 舞狮lion dance (The lion is believed to be able to dispel evil and bring good luck.) 舞龙dragon dance (to expect good weather and good harvests) 戏曲traditional opera 杂耍variety show 灯谜riddles written on lanterns 灯会exhibit of lanterns 拜年p

25、ay New Years call; give New Years greetings; New Years visit 禁忌taboo 去晦气get rid of the ill- fortune 祭祖宗offer sacrifices to ones ancestors 压岁钱gift money; money given to children as a lunar New Year gift 辞旧岁bid farewell to the old year 扫房spring cleaning; general house-cleaning 年糕Nian-gao; rise cake; N

26、ew Year cake 团圆饭family reunion dinner 年夜饭the dinner on New Years Eve 饺子Jiao-zi; Chinese meat ravioli 汤圆Tang-yuan;( dumplings made of sweet rice, rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings )八宝饭eight treasures rice pudding 糖果盘candy tray: 什锦糖assorted candies - sweet and fortune 蜜冬瓜candied winter melon - growth and good health 西瓜子red melon seed - joy, happiness, truth and sincerity 金桔cumquat - prosperity 糖莲子candied lotus seed - many descendents to come 糖藕candied lotus root - fulfilling love relationship 红枣red dates - prosperity 花生糖peanut candy - sweet 第 12 页-