四六級口語閱讀必備：春節
和春節有關的單詞
春節 Chinese New Year
除夕 Chinese New Year"s Eve
春運 spring migration
農曆 the lunar calendar
生肖 zodiac animal
春聯 Paper scrolls
春晚 the Chunwan Gala
舞龍 dragon dance
舞獅 lion dance
廟會 Temple Fair
煙花 fireworks
紅包 red envelope
壓歲錢 gift money
鞭炮 firecrackers
燈籠 lantern
守歲 staying-up
拜年 New Year"s visit
團圓飯 family reunion dinner
年夜飯 the dinner on New Year"s Eve
A：Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. According to the lunar calendar, it"s dictated by the first new moon closest to the beginning of spring.中國的春節每年的日期都不一樣。根據農曆，春節的具體時間是最接近春天開始的第一個新月日。
Q：什麼是生肖？
A：In China, the New Year can start from like, the middle of January than to the end of February. And this lunar cycle repeats itself every 12 years. One animal represents each year, so totally 12 animals represent 12 years. The animals include the horse, goat, tiger, rooster, dog, pig. And, of course, the monkey.中國的春節那天會在是1月中旬到2月底其間的一天。這種農曆的循環每12年重複一次。每種動物代表一年，一共12種動物代表12年。生肖裏包括馬，羊，虎，雞，狗，豬。當然還有猴。
Q：本命年是好的嗎？
When it"s your year, it is believed you are going to get more bad luck. The Chinese think that this year you are gonna offend the God of Taisui.到了本命年，人們認爲會更容易倒黴。中國人認爲本命年的時候容易犯太歲。A：There are a few things you can do. You just wear red. In China right now you"re seeing so much red. Red is a very auspicious color.有幾件事情可以做，穿上紅的就行了。在中國現在到處都看得到紅色，紅色是非常吉利的顏色。
Q：中國人過年爲什麼喜歡吃白菜？
A：The cabbage, Chinese cabbage, in Chinese we call this Baicai. And the reason why we love to eat it during Chinese New Year is if you pronounce it slightly different that means 100 fortune in Chinese.中國大白菜，我們中國人管這叫白菜。新年裏我們之所以愛吃這個，是因爲在中文裏，它的發音跟"百財"只有一點點不同。
Q:過年前要做什麼？
A：In the first five days of the New Year, we are not supposed to do any cleaning, so before that, the whole house needs to be thoroughly cleaned and everyone in the family gets involved.在新年的頭5天，我們不會做清潔活，因此節前，家裏需要徹底大掃除，家庭成員都應該參加。
Q除了大掃除，還有什麼要做的嗎？
A：There is an interesting tradition that we need to have our haircut before Chinese New Year day. Because in China we believe that if we have a haircut, in the first month of the New Year, it will do harm to a maternal uncle"s health.有個有趣的傳統，中國新年前，我們必須要理髮。因爲中國人相信如果理髮這事安排在新年第一個月，會損害舅舅的健康。
Q:什麼是春聯？
A：Paper scrolls are normally put up on both sides of the doorway. There are certain strict Rules to mirror the words, like if there is a character on the left-hand side that saying, sky, for example, there should be one on the right-hand side saying ground, and if there is rain, there is wind. If there is red, there is green. So it is kind of a thing that brings good blessing and good wishes for the New Year.春聯一般貼在門的兩邊。詞的對仗有很嚴格的規定，如果左聯上有一字，比如“天”字，右聯必須有個“地”字，“雨”對“風”，“紅”對“綠”。因此是語意萬千，希望新年帶來祝福和好運。
Q:春節期間，適合買什麼作爲禮物？
A：You know, there is a saying in Chinese for the New Year. It"s actually... Meaning a dumpling with Baijiu, the more you eat or drink, the richer you will be. So if you don"t mind bringing some Baijiu in for us, that will be perfect.新年，中國有句老話，就是：餃子就酒，越喝越有。就是邊吃餃子邊喝酒，吃喝越多就越富有。那不介意的話就帶着白酒來我家，這就完美了。
Q：中國人爲什麼喜歡去廟裏拜佛？
A：People come here every day to make offering incense sticks and pray. But on New Year"s Eve, it is a particularly important day to come and to ask for health and good fortune for the coming year. To tell your fortune, you have to take a bamboo vessel filled with 100 pre-sticks and shake it until one falls out. That numbered stick is then interpreted by a fortune teller.每天都有人來這裏，來燒香祈願，但在除夕夜，在這尤爲重要的一天中，必須到此祈求來年的安康鴻運。要想預知自己的運勢的話，你得先拿一個竹筒，然後搖晃裏面的100根籤條，直至有一根晃出來，然後拿着這根籤條讓算命先生算一下。
Q:大年初一還有哪些規矩需要注意嗎？
A：Rule number one. No medicine on the first day of the lunar New Year, because it is believed that if you take any medicine on the first day of the year, you will be ill all year. That is no good.
第一條規矩。農曆大年初一不能吃藥，據說如果你在初一吃了藥，你全年身體都會不好。這可不妙。Rule two, no porridge. It is a peasant food and you will be eating poor food and be poor all year if you eat porridge on the first day of the year.
第二條，不能喝粥。粥是鄉下人吃的東西，吃了窮人的東西你就會變窮，新年第一天喝了粥，一年都會窮。Rule three, no sweeping because it means you are sweeping away the wealth of the new year to come. Make sense.
第三條，不能打掃衛生，如果搞了衛生，就會把新年裏的財運統統掃掉，有道理。
