汉译英练习之一

汉译英练习之一

春节

Spring Festival

中国的春节在农历一月一日，是新一年的开始。这是举家团圆的时刻。一般说来，在春节前几天，只要有可能的话，多数人无论身处何地都会回家。就像圣诞节一样，人们会买很多东西如食品、礼物、衣服和烟花爆竹给孩子们。在除夕之夜，多数农村家庭仍然保持着一些传统习俗，如在两扇门上都贴上门神和春联。他们把“福”字倒贴在墙上和家具的门上，意思是“福到了”。除夕之夜的年夜饭是必不可少的程序。全家人围坐着一张桌子一同分享佳肴，人多的话兴许不止一张桌子。家人还会为没能赶回家的亲人留些座位，仿佛他们也在一起吃似的。年夜饭过后，大家会坐在一起，观看中央电视台的春节特别节目，等待新年的到来。午夜将近时，特别节目也接近尾声，这时家家户户都到户外去放鞭炮。据说这样可以驱除妖魔。新年的早饭是很特别的，北方人吃饺子，南方人吃糯米饭团。走亲访友从新年的第一天就开始了，俗称“拜年”。每到这时，孩子们是最开心的，因为他们可以从长辈那里拿到压岁钱，据说这钱能给他们带来好运。

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, Spring Festival falls on the first day of the first month, which marks the beginning of a new year. It is a time for family reunion. In most cases, just a few days before the festival, if possible, most of the family members come home, no matter where they are. And like the Christmas season, people buy children a lot of things such as food, gifts, clothing and fireworks. On the New Year’s eve, most of the families in the countryside still keep the custom of pasting paintings of door gods on the two doors and couplets on either side of the doors. They put the Chinese character “Fu” meaning “happiness” upside down and paste it on walls and doors of the furniture to mean that “happiness has come”. Feast dinner is a must for the whole family on the New Year’s eve, when all the family members sit at one or more tables. Dinner seats will be arranged for the members who are absent as if they were also joining the dinner. After dinner, they sit together waiting for the coming of the New Year, usually by watching the CCTV special program for Spring Festival. At midnight when it is near the end of the program, every family goes out to set off firecrackers, which is said to drive away evils. Breakfast for the New Year’s Day is special: Jiaozi for those in North China and small glutinous rice balls for the southerners. Relatives and friends begin to exchange their visits from the New Year’s Day on, which is called “Bainian”. Children are the happiest ones because they can get red envelope money (lucky money) from their seniors. The money is believed to bring good luck to them.

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