Notes：1）forbear忍耐；2）renew使更新；3）outings遠足；4）exile流放
8.端午節是怎樣產生的？
What is the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival?
The Dragon Boat Festival or Duanwu Festival(端午節) commemorates Qu Yuan (屈原), a patriotic poet from the State of Chu during the Warring States Period. There Qu Yuan proposed a series of progressive reforms, including domestic political reforms and a legal system set-up, but forces of corruption, represented by Jin Shang (靳尚) who opposed Qu Yuan, led the king not to trust him. Qu Yuan had to leave the capital and began a wandering life. With patriotic fervor, Qu Yuan produced many odes to display his concern for the fate of his state and people. In 278 B. C., when the Qin troops stormed the capital, and the downfall of Chu was expected at any moment, he took a rock in his arms and drowned himself in the Miluo River (汩羅江) near the present-day Changsha. He chose not to live and see that his state to be vanquished by the enemy. When the news of his death came, the local people rushed to the scene and rowed boats along the river in an attempt to find his remains, but they were never recovered. The people of Chu mourned his death, and every year afterwards they threw bamboo tubes filled with rice into the river as a sacrifice to him. This is supposed to be the origin of the custom of rowing dragon boats and eating zong-zi (粽子) on the Dragon Boat Festival.
Notes：1）commemorate紀念；2）progressive進步的；3）co-rruption墮落；4）wandering徘徊的；5）patriotic愛國的；6）fervor熱情；7）vanquish征服
9.粽子是怎樣產生的？
What is the origin of zong-zi?
Zong-zi (粽子) is glutinous rice wrapped in reed leaves. One story tells about why rice is wrapped this way. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there lived in Changsha a man named Ou Hui (歐回), who one day chanced to meet a man who called himself the Minister in Charge of the Affairs of Three Aristocratic Families (閭大夫). This man told Ou Hui,“It is very good of you to offer me gifts of rice, but most of them are stolen and devoured by the river dragon. In the future, please wrap them up in chinaberry leaves and tie them up with color threads. The leaves and threads will scare away the dragon, and he will never touch them again.”People did as they were told, and this is why zong-zi is made the way as it is.
Notes：1）reed蘆葦；2）chinaberry楝樹
10.什麼是中秋節？
What is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Every year on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month is held the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節). According to the ancient calendar, the eighth lunar month is in the middle of autumn, and the 15th day of the month is in the middle of the month. On that night, the moon is supposed to be brighter and fuller than in any other month and the moonlight is the most beautiful. In China, a full moon is symbolic of family reunion, so the day is also known as“The Day of Reunion.”
Notes：1）moonlight月光；2）reunion團聚
11.月餅是什麼時候出現的？
What is the origin of moon cakes?
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people eat moon cakes (月餅) that are also called“reunion cake”because they are round in shape. People began making moon cakes in the Tang Dynasty, but they became popular in the Song Dynasty, when they were available everywhere as an offering to the moon. Some people ate them after a sacrificial ceremony while others kept them until the New Year Eve. In the Ming Dynasty, it was a custom for people to exchange moon cakes as a way to express the happiness of a family reunion. In the Qing Dynasty, moon cakes came to be stuffed with walnut paste, similar to these we have now.
Notes：1）sacrificial獻祭的；2）walnut胡桃
12重陽節有什麼習俗？
What are the customs for the Double Ninth Festival?
The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the Double Ninth Festival (重陽節). It occurs in the middle of autumn and peasants use the day to celebrate the harvest with varied activities:
a. Viewing chrysanthemums on the day is a delight. Chrysanthemums are flowers that smell sweet and blossom in spite of cold, frosty weather. At flower shows, thousands of chrysanthemums are on display. People appreciate them, poets write odes about them and artists paint them.
b. Drinking chrysanthemum wine is another custom. It is said that the wine is good for one’s eyes and helps bring blood pressure down.
c. People also climb mountains or go boating.
Notes：1）chrysanthemum菊花；2）ode頌歌
13.什麼是七夕節？
What is the Qixi Festival (the Double Seventh Night Festival)?
The seventh lunar month in China falls in hot summer. In the evening of that day, people would look up at the starry sky and tell fairy tales. One of these tales says that at this very night every year, a Cowherd and a Weaving Maid will walk across a bridge spanned by magpies over the Heavenly River (the Milky River). It is said that the Weaving Maid is the seventh daughter of the Queen Mother. She works at her shuttle in Heaven, while the Cowherd herds cows in the human world. Once the Weaving Maid came down from Heaven and by chance met the Cowherd. They two fell in love, got married and settled down in the countryside. When the Queen Mother found this out, she brought her daughter back to Heaven, separating the pair with expanse of the Milky River. However, the true love between the Cowherd and Weaving Maid moved a kind-hearted phoenix who called on all the magpies in the universe to form a bridge across the river for the couple to cross and reunite on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month. This story represents the wishes of people for a happier life.
Notes：1）starry布滿星星的；2）cowherd牧牛者；3）magpie喜鵲；4）shuttle梭子