Special Food.As one of the most important aspects of the Spring Festival,food has symbolic meanings.In Northern China,people usually eat jiaozi (dumplings),which first appeared in China some 1,600 years ago.The Chinese pronunciation of jiaozi means “midnight” or “the end” and “the beginning of time”.Its crescent shape resembles that of ancient gold and silver ingots or a crescent moon which symbolizes the hope for a plentiful year.Sometimes,people stuff jiaozi with sugar for a “sweet” life,and others put one or two coins inside——if you happen to come across a coinstuffed jiaozi,you will have good luck.But southerners like to eat niangao,or “New Year Cakes”——a sweet,sticky,brown cake made of rice flour and sugar.In Chinese,gao is a homonym for “high”.Niangao is a homonym for “higher each year” and symbolizes improvement in life year by year.Another important part of the Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour called yuanxiao or tangyuan.Made of sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing and round in shape,they symbolize family unity,completeness and happiness.
Fireworks and Firecrackers Displays.When the Chinese New Year arrives,the sky is illuminated with fireworks and strings of lights to send off the old and ring in the New Year.Fireworks and firecrackers,known as yanhua and baozhu,were originally made of real bamboo and were traditionally set off to frighten the legendary monster,Nian.You can hear or see fireworks and firecrackers everywhere,which usually lasts for a few hours.Some people will continue to set off fireworks periodically throughout the first half of the first lunar month.
Spring Couplets.During Spring Festival every household will put up New Year paintings in their rooms and,on their whitepaper windows,they will paste red color paper cuts of flowers,birds,fish,insects,human figures etc.on the gate they will put up gateguarding warriors and on both sides of the warriors Spring Festival couplets.Decorations are an important feature of the celebrations for the Chinese New Year.One of the main decorations is the red couplets——Chinese good luck proverbs written on red paper.The pieces are often about happiness,wealth,longevity and a satisfactory marriage,including more children.Today couplets are written on paper.In ancient times,they were made of peach wood.
Character Fu (Fortune).During Spring Festival the Chinese character Fu,written with a Chinese writing brush on a piece of red color paper,is present almost in every corner of the household.Fu,as opposed to the Chinese character Huo (misfortune),originally meant “Everything goes well”.Later this character in different sizes were put up on the door,the barn,the wardrobe,the cupboard,water pots,chairs and tables,as a wish for the blessings of gods,good weather and good crops in the new year.Red is not only a lucky color for the Chinese,but also wards off the mythical monster who arrived at this time of year to destroy crops and homes.Many people will put up decorative posters with an upsidedown Chinese character Fu on their doors.The pronunciation of “upsidedown” in Chinese is the same as “come” or “arrive”,which means that fortune has arrived or spring,wealth or blessing has arrived.(563)
crescentn新月
resemblev像；類似
ingotn鑄鐵
homonymn同音異義詞
glutinous ricen糯米
firecrackern爆竹
legendaryadj傳說的
periodicallyadj周期性的；定時性的
ward offv避開；擋住
suppressv鎮壓；抑製
spectacularadj引人入勝的；壯觀的
eyelidn眼皮
gongn銅鑼
intoxicatev使陶醉
relivev重溫；再體驗
kinshipn家庭關係；親密關係
ⅠFill in the blanks with the correct words from the table.
When the Chinese New Year arrives,the sky isto set off fireworks periodically throughout the first half of the first lunar month.
ⅡTranslate the following sentences into Chinese.
1As one of the most important aspects of the Spring Festival,food has symbolic meanings.
2Niangao is a homonym for “higher each year” and symbolizes improvement in life,year by year.
3When the Chinese New Year arrives,the sky is illuminated with fireworks and strings of lights to send off the old and ring in the New Year.
4The couplets are often Chinese good luck proverbs about happiness,wealth,longevity and a satisfactory marriage,including more children.