中国传统文化英语表达法(四级)【学习资料】.doc

中国传统节日Traditional Chinese Festivals The Spring Festival 春节The Chinese Spring Festival falls on the very first day of the Chinese Lunar year. The celebration of the Spring Festival, otherwise known as the Chinese New Year, starts from the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the Lantern Festival, that is, the fifteenth of the month. The Spring Festival to the Chinese is what Christmas to the Westerners (中国人过春节相当于西方人过圣诞节). The Spring Festival Eve 除夕The Spring Festival Eve, or the Chinese New Year’s Eve, is call the Danian Sanshi （大年三十）in Chinese. It is a time of jubilance, with eyeful of Spring Festival couplets, earful of loud firecrackers, and the kitchen full of yummy stuff cooking on the stove. Wherever they are, people will hurry back home for their family reunion on the eve. The Spring Festival Eve Dinner 年夜饭The Spring Festival Eve Dinner is known as the Dinner of Reunion. On the Eve, children away from home will all come back to enjoy a tableful of delicacies together with their parents. People in the north prefer jiaozi, the southerners like tangyuan, sweet round dumplings to indicate family reunion, and niangao, which means “going higher and higher in the coming year”.Spring Festival Couples 贴春联It has been a tradition for the Chinese to paste Spring Festival couples on the doors during the Festival. Words of auspiciousness are written in the couples, which are called duilian对联, or the Pair Couplets, because the words on both couplets should be equal in number, parallel in form, and attuned in meaning. Sometimes people also paste a hengpi横批, a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, above the couples. Gift Money 压岁钱On the festive occasion, young children will pay New Year calls on and express their best wishes to their elders who, in return, will offer them yasuiqian 压岁钱, money given to children as a Spring Festival gift. The money is usually wrapped up in red paper – a symbol of good fortune. Setting off firecrackers 放鞭炮Part of the Spring Festival celebration is to set off firecracker, which is meant to add joy to the festivity. People wish that, by setting off firecrackers, good luck would come to them in the coming year. Paying New Year Calls 拜年The Spring Festival is also a time to pay festive visits and say good wishes to one another among relatives, friends and neighbours. Vising Temple Fairs赶庙会During the Festival, people visit temple fairs, where an assortment of entertaining performances takes place, including Yandko 秧歌 (a rirual folk dance popular in north China), acrobatics（杂技） and folk art shows. Varieties of snacks and commodity exchanges （商品交易）are also the integral parts of the fair. The Lantern Festival 元宵节The 15th day of the first lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival, which coincides with the first full-moon night of the year (这一天正好是新年的第一个月圆之夜). The major activities of the day include watching painted lanterns, solving riddles, setting off fireworks, and eating yuanxiao元宵(sweet dumplings) made of glutinous [ˈglu:tinəs](粘的，胶装的) rice flour （糯米面，糯米粉）.Eating Yuanxiao 吃元宵Eating yuanxiao 元宵on the day of the Lantern Festival symbolizes family reunion and happiness. Yuanxiao are made with glutinous rice flour dough, stuffed with a variety of food such as red bean paste, sesame, mixed nutlets with sugar. Minced meat is another favored flavor (元宵用糯米粉包馅制成，馅儿有豆沙、芝麻、各类果仁加白糖，还有肉糜馅等). In southern China, people also eat tangyuan汤圆(like yuanxiao元宵).Watching Painted Lanterns 赏花灯On the night of the Lantern Festival, lines of painted lanterns are hung around the courtyard and along both sides of the street. The colorful lights against the full moon create quite a visual feast for people to enjoy (人们观灯赏月，其乐融融).Solving Lantern Riddles 猜灯谜Solving riddles written or printed on lanterns is another way of entertaining visitors on the night.The Dragon Boat Festival 端午节The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The story goes that the day is kept in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan 屈原who died more than 2000 years ago. It’s also a day to pray for agricultural harvests as well as to drive pestilences [ˈpestiləns] away (同时也是人们祈求农业丰收，驱除瘟疫的节日).Qu Yuan (339BC? ～ 278BC?) 屈原Qu Yuan 屈原, a patriotic poet of the Chu State 楚国in ancient China, is greatly respected by people of all times, for both his fine poetry and noble character. It was on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the year 278 BC after the falling of the Chu State （楚国） that Qu Yuan （屈原）gave his life to his beloved motherland by drowning himself in the river (因楚国国都失陷，屈原悲愤地投江而死).Dragon Boat Racing 赛龙舟The dragon boat is made of wood, with mythical dragon head and dragon tail decorations on it. Dragon boat racing originally showed people’s wish to rescue Qu Yuan（屈原）from drowning, and gradually became a popular competitive mass sport (赛龙舟最初是表达屈原投江后，人们寻救他的迫切心情，后来逐渐成为端午节流行的一项民间体育竞技活动).E。