用英语介绍元宵节来历

用英语介绍元宵节来历

Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. This is the first full moon of the new year, symbolizing unity and perfection. Lantern Festival is an important part of Spring Festival , and marks the official

end of the long holiday.

元宵节是农历正月的第十五天，这是新年的第一次满月，象征着

和睦和团圆。元宵节是春节的一个重要组成部分，也象征着春节长假

的正式结束。

There are many legends concerning the origins of Lantern Festival.

关于元宵节的来历有很多传说。

According to one legend, once in ancient times, a

celestial swan came into the mortal world where it was shot down by a hunter. The Jade Emperor, the highest god in Heaven, vowed to avenge the swan. He started making plans to send a troop of celestial soldiers and generals to Earth on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with orders to incinerate all humans and animals. But the other celestial beings disagreed with this course of action, and risked their lives to warn the people of Earth. As a result, before and

after the fifteenth day of the first month, every family hung red lanterns outside their doors and set off firecrackers and fireworks, giving the impression that their homes were

already burning. By successfully tricking the Jade Emperor in this way, humanity was saved from extermination.

有一个传说是这样的，在古代，有一位神界天鹅闯入人间被猎手

误杀。天界的神玉皇大帝所以发誓为这只天鹅报仇。他开始制定计划，派出一支天兵天将于农历正月十五来到人间，命令他们火烧所有的人

和动物。但是其他神仙并不赞同这个计划，他们冒着生命危险提醒人

间的人们。结果，在正月十五这个天前后，每一个家庭在门外挂起灯笼，并燃放烟花爆竹，给天兵天将造成各家各户起火的假象。通过这

种方式，人们成功骗过了玉皇大帝，人类也所以逃过灭绝的危险。

According to another legend, during the time of Emperor Han Wudi of the Han Dynasty , a palace woman named Yuanxiao was prevented from carrying out her filial duty of visiting

her parents on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Distraught, she said she would kill herself by jumping into a well. In order to help Yuanxiao fulfill her duty as a filial daughter, the scholar Dongfang Shuo came up with a scheme. He told Emperor Han Wudi that the Jade Emperor, the highest god

in Heaven, had ordered the Fire God to burn down the capital city of Chang'an on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Anxious to find a way to save his city, the emperor asked Dongfang Shuo what he should do. Dongfang Shuo replied that the Fire God loved red lanterns more than anything. He advised that the streets be hung with red lanterns, and the emperor, empress, concubines, and court officials come out of the palace to see them. In this way, the Fire God would be distracted and disaster averted. The emperor followed Dongfang Shuo's advice, and while everyone was out viewing

the lanterns, Yuanxiao was able to sneak out of the palace

and be reunited with her parents.

另外一个传说发生在汉武帝时期。一位名叫元宵的宫女因身处深宫，没法在正月十五与父母团聚尽孝。为此，她欲跳井自尽。为了协

助元宵姑娘为父母尽孝，智者东方朔想出了一个计划。他告诉汉武帝，