1、圖說春節(jié),An Introduction of the Spring Festival,掃塵 Sweeping the Dust,“Dust” is homophonic with “chen”（塵）in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. “Dust”與“塵”是諧音（塵在漢語中的意思是舊的

2、和過去的）。這樣，“在春節(jié)前掃塵”是指徹底清潔房屋掃除過去一年的厄運。,This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. In a word, just before the Spring Festival comes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new. 此習俗表達了收拾舊事物，歡迎新生活的美好愿望?？傊?，就在春節(jié)到來之前

3、，為了告別舊年迎接新年，家家戶戶都會徹底打掃一下房屋。,貼春聯(lián) Pasting Spring Couplets,“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing a

4、n inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. “春聯(lián)”也被稱為和“對聯(lián)”對立的一對短語，在中國是一種特殊的文學形式。春聯(lián)是由貼在門口兩側兩組對立的句子組成，在門上面的橫批通常是一個吉祥的短語。,The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival

5、, every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. In the past, the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them, while nowadays, it is common for people to buy the print

6、ed spring couplet in the market. 貼在門右側的句子被稱作對聯(lián)的上聯(lián)，左側的為下聯(lián)。除夕那天，每家都會在門上貼上紅紙寫的春聯(lián)，傳遞出節(jié)日喜慶和熱鬧的氣氛。在過去，中國人通常用毛筆自己寫春聯(lián)或者請別人寫春聯(lián)，而現(xiàn)在，人們普遍在市場上買印刷好的春聯(lián)。,貼窗花和“福”字 Pasting Paper-cuts and “Up-sided Fu”,Paper-cuts, usually with auspicious patterns, give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival and express th

7、e good wishes of Chinese people looking forward to a good life. 通常帶有吉祥圖案的窗花傳遞節(jié)日喜慶和熱鬧的氣氛和表達中國人期待幸福生活的美好愿望。,In addition to pasting paper-cuts on windows, it is common for Chinese to paste the character “fu（福）”, big and small, on walls, doors and doorposts around the houses. “Fu（福）” shows peoples yearn

8、ing toward a good life. 除了貼窗花，在墻上，門上和房子周圍的門框上貼大小福字是中國人表達對美好生活渴望的普遍習俗。,Some people even invert the character “fu（福）” to signify that blessing has arrived because “inverted” is a homonym for “arrive” in Chinese. Now many kinds of paper-cuts and “fu（福）” can be seen in the market before the Festival. 一些

9、人甚至倒貼福字來表示福到了，因為在漢語中“倒”是“到”的諧音。現(xiàn)在在春節(jié)前的市場上隨處可見各種各樣的窗花和福字。,守歲 Staying Up Late on New Years Eve,The tradition of staying up late to see New Year in originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year, who was very ferocious. Year always went out from its burrow o

10、n New Years Eve to devour people. Therefore, on every New Years Eve, every household would have supper together. After dinner, no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together, chatting and emboldening each other.,守歲的傳統(tǒng)源自于一個有趣的民間故事。在中國古代有一個叫作年的兇猛怪物，在除夕夜年會從地洞里出來吃人。因此在除夕夜，每家每戶都會一

11、起吃晚飯，晚飯以后沒人敢睡覺，所有的家庭成員會坐在一起聊天互相壯膽。,Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Years Eve is formed. Thus in China, “celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called “passing over the year (guo nian)”. However, now there are less and less people in cities who will stay up late to see New Year in. 逐漸

12、在除夕夜守歲的習慣形成了，因此在中國，慶祝春節(jié)也被叫作過年。然而在城市里很少有人以守歲來歡迎新年。,貼年畫 Pasting New Year Prints,The custom of pasting New Year Prints originated from the tradition of placing Door Gods on the external doors of houses. With the creation of board carvings, New Year paintings cover a wide range of subjects. The most fam

13、ous ones are Door Gods, Surplus Year after Year, Three Gods of Blessing, Salary and Longevity, An Abundant Harvest of Crops, Thriving Domestic Animals and Celebrating Spring. 貼年畫的風俗源自于把房子外面的門上貼門神的傳統(tǒng)。隨著木質雕刻品的出現(xiàn)，年畫包含了更廣泛的主題，最出名的就是門神，三大神-福神薪神和壽神，莊稼豐收，家畜興旺，和慶祝春節(jié)。,Four producing areas of New Year Print a

14、re Tohuwu of Suzhou, Yngliuqing of Tianjin, Wuqing of Hebei and Weifang of Shangdong. Now the tradition of pasting New Year paintings is still kept in rural China, while it is seldom followed in cities. 年畫的四大產地分別是蘇州桃花塢，天津楊柳青，河北武強和山東濰坊?，F(xiàn)在中國農村仍然保持著貼年畫的傳統(tǒng)，而在城市里很少有人貼年畫。,吃餃子 Having Jiaozi,On New Years Ev

15、e, the whole family will sit together to make jiaozi and celebrate the Spring Festival. The shape of jiaozi is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. The tradition of having jiaozi is very important during the Spring Festival. You cannot have a comple

16、te Spring Festival without having jiaozi.,在除夕那天，全家人會坐在一起包餃子慶祝春節(jié)。餃子的形狀像中國古代的金元寶，因此人們吃餃子以此來希望財富到來。在春節(jié)期間吃餃子是很重要的傳統(tǒng)習俗。如果沒有吃餃子，你將不能擁有一個完整的春節(jié)。,看春節(jié)聯(lián)歡晚會 The CCTV New Years Gala,The New Years Gala is a variety show held by China Central Television (CCTV) since 1983. For every year since then at the turn of t

17、he Lunar New Year, the program begins at 8:00PM and lasts five or six hours. It brings laughter to billions of people, creates many popular words and produces lots of TV phenomena meriting attention. For over twenty years, its value has gone far beyond a variety show. It is essential entertainment f

18、or the Chinese both at home and abroad. Many Chinese would like to watch the gala while having the dinner on New Years Eve. 新年聯(lián)歡晚會是自1983年以來中央電視臺舉辦的綜藝節(jié)目。從那時候起每年在農歷新年交替的時候，晚上八點節(jié)目開始并持續(xù)五六個小時左右，春節(jié)晚會給數億人帶來了笑聲，創(chuàng)造了許多流行詞匯和值得關注的許多電視現(xiàn)象。20多年以來，它的價值已經遠遠超過了文藝晚會。對于國內外的中國人都是非常必要的娛樂活動，許多中國人想一邊吃除夕晚宴，一邊看春節(jié)聯(lián)歡晚會。,放鞭炮 Se

19、tting off Firecrackers,The firecracker is a unique product in China. In ancient China, the sound of burning bamboo tubes was used to scare away wild animals and evil spirits. With the invention of the gunpowder, “firecracker” is also called “鞭炮binpo” (“炮” in Chinese means gun) and used to foster a j

20、oyful atmosphere. The first thing every Chinese household does is to set off firecrackers and fireworks, which are meant to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new. 在中國爆竹是一件特殊的產品。在中國古代，燃燒竹管的聲音被用來嚇走動物和惡鬼。隨著火藥的發(fā)明，爆竹也被稱作鞭炮，用來營造歡樂的氣氛。在中國每家每戶第一件事要做的就是放煙花爆竹，因為這意味著告別舊年迎接新年。,拜年和壓歲錢 New Years Visit and Gift Money,On the first day of the Chinese lunar year, everybody puts on their best clothes and pays ceremonial calls on their relati