春節

　　春節是中國的傳統節日，再過幾天中華民族最大的節日春節就快到啦，如果身邊有在中國過春節的外國朋友，我們要如何用英語向他們介紹春節呢?

　　What does the holiday mean?

　　這個節日有什么含義嗎?

　　The term "pass year" is used for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The word "Year" in Chinese characters used to mean a horrible beast. To combat the beast, the Chinese hang "good luck" wishes on red paper on the door and use fireworks in the belief that the beast fears red and fire. This tradition in many ways resemblethe Western belief of using garlic and crosses to fight vampires.

　　中文中“過年”這個詞組用以表示對春節(中國新年)的慶祝。“年”這個字在中文里是一種恐怖的怪獸。因為“年”害怕紅色和火，所以中國人會在門上懸掛“春聯”寫上美好祝福，并放鞭炮來趕跑它。這個傳統有點類似西方人用大蒜和十字架嚇跑吸血鬼的傳統。

　　Why New Year is so special?

　　為什么新年那么特別呢?

　　The Chinese zodiac features 12 animals in the sequence of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This year is the year of Tiger. Each animal represents a different "personality". According to legend, people held a conference with all the animals, informing them that they would pick the 12 to represent the zodiac. However, in spite of being fast, the cat was not picked as its then-close friend, the rat, did not wake it. This action sparked off a rivalrythat continues till this day.

　　中國的十二生肖代表了十二種動物，他們的順序是：鼠、牛、兔、龍、蛇、馬、羊、猴、雞、狗和豬。今年是虎年。每一種動物有他們自己的“性格”。根據傳說，人們當初和動物們開了一個會，最先到會的動物們就可以進入十二生肖。而身為貓最好的朋友，老鼠卻沒有把貓叫醒去開會。因此，它們之間的戰爭一直持續到今天。

　　What do people do?

　　那人們在新年都干啥呢?

　　Eat, eat again, and then eat some more! As the old Chinese saying goes: food is everything.

　　吃、接著吃、再吃更多東西!就跟一句中國古話說的那樣：食物即一切。

　　The tradition is to have different main courses everyday from the 1st day of the New Year to the 15th day of the New Year, from Jiao Zi (dumplings), noodles, spring rolls, sticky rice cakes, and Tang Yuan (stuffed rice balls). Besides culinarysatisfaction, each food has a meaning as well: for instance, Jiao Zi looks like gold, implying a wealthy year ahead.

　　傳統就是，從新年第一天開始直到正月十五，每天都要吃不同的主菜。從餃子、面條、春卷、年糕到湯圓。除了祭好五臟廟以外，每一種食物也有含義：比如餃子看起來就像金元寶，這意味來年的豐衣足食。

　　Besides eating, young people visit older family members and kids are blessed with a red pack of "lucky" money. And then, people gather and eat again (!), leading to a lot of advertisements about fitness right after the Chinese New Year holiday.

　　除了吃以外，年輕人要去拜會家里的老人家，而小盆友們就有大把壓歲錢拿。跟著，人們又聚在一起吃，所以節后中國就會出現很多減肥廣告……