Best wishes for the year to come
2007年4月总第53期
【喜话连篇】
FOR NEW YEAR
Best wishes for the year to come!
恭贺新禧!
May you come into a good fortune!
恭喜发财!
I want to wish you longevity and health!
愿你健康长寿!
May the New Year bring many good things and rich blessings to you and all those you love!
愿新年带给你和你所爱的人许多美好的事物和无尽的祝福!
Good health, good luck and much happiness throughout the year.
恭祝健康、幸运,新年快乐。
Good luck and great success in the coming New Year.
祝来年好运,并取得更大的成就。
I hope you have a most happy and prosperous New Year.
谨祝新年快乐幸福,大吉大利。
May the season's joy fill you all the year round.
愿节日的愉快伴你一生。
May you come into a good fortune!
Good luck, good health, hood cheer. I wish you a happy New Year.
祝好运、健康、佳肴伴你度过一个快乐新年。
【喜庆中国年】
Chinese New Year Greetings
恭喜发财
Chinese New Year Colors
中国吉祥色——红
You probably have guessed correctly by now : the favorite colors during Chinese New Year are RED and GOLD. Red symbolizes happiness while Gold symbolizes wealth. As such, these two colors are predominant in most Chinese New Year decorations and greeting cards.
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Tips : Black and white, on the other hand, are the "unlucky" colors avoided by most Chinese during the New Year.
Hongbao
红包
Fire Crackers and Lion Dance
烟花 舞狮
Fire crackers and lion dance are almost synonymous with Chinese New Year. Fire crackers were used to chase away the mythical monster, Nian, which once terrorized the people. But over time, their loud noises have been used to create the jovial, holiday mood. If you hear this, you'll know that Chinese New Year is just around the corner.
Lion dance is a remarkable piece of performance art and sports. Normally performed by 2 people, it takes years of training and practice before one can be good enough to give a public performance. It's no surprise that many lion dancers are also practitioners of Chinese martial arts, or Kung Fu.Today, fire crackers and lion dance can also be found during auspicious events such as grand opening day of a new business.
Chinese Rice Cake
年糕
Most Chinese New Year dishes have names that sound like good or fortunate things, e.g. fish (Yu) for abundance and New Year rice cake (Nian Gao) for advancement.
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The rising effect of the cake during baking symbolizes advancement (Gao Sheng) so it is no surprise that parents will urge their children to have Nian Gao during the Chinese New Year. Below is the recipe for the Chinese Rice Cake or Nian Gao. Try it and may you have advancement year after year (Nian Nian Gao Sheng)!
I am pleased to talk with you about some of our Christmas traditions in the United States.
Of course, everyone has to have a Christmas tree. We can buy one or go out to a farm in the country to chop one down. We bring it home and set it up in the corner of our living room, where my family help decorate it. We put a Christmas clothe at the bottom of the Christmas tree. Then we take out all the ornaments like bows and plenty of lights of all shapes and colors to decorate it. Since our Christmas tree is green we buy fake snow and spray it all over the tree. After that, we go toy and clothing shopping for presents and put all the presents under the tree.
On Christmas Eve we always go to church to sing Christmas carols like "Silent Night" and "These Three Kings". But some families have parties, have a big dinner and wait till midnight for our gift-giver , Santa Claus.
Our Santa Claus is supposed to be wearing a red suit . He travels from his home at the North Pole in a flying sleigh with eight reindeer by himself. At midnight, he lands on the roof and comes down the chimney. He leaves the gifts under our trees and puts some toys or candy in our stockings. We all leave him a plate of cookies, something to drink and a carrot for the reindeer. We think that is why he is so chubby.
On Christmas morning, we hurry to the living room to open our stockings. There are brightly wrapped packages piled under our tree, and even some nestled among the Christmas tree branches. They are all for us.
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After we finish opening the gifts, we go to visit our relatives and friends. We exchange greetings and gifts. At the end of the day, we sit down to a celebration dinner of turkey or ham to talk about the wonderful day we had.
很高兴和你们谈谈有关美国的一些圣诞习俗。
当然,我们必须要有一棵圣诞树。我们可以去买或者去乡下农场砍一棵。我们把它拿回家放在起居室的角落里。我们一家人一起来装饰它。我们在树的底部放一块圣诞布,拿出所有的装饰品,像蝴蝶结和许多各种形状各种颜色的灯来装饰圣诞树。因为树是绿的,所以我们买了假的雪喷在树上。然后我们去玩具和服装店买礼物并把礼物放在树下。
在圣诞前夜,我们经常去教堂唱圣诞颂歌,像《平安夜》和《三个国王》。但有的家庭在家里举办聚会,美餐一顿,等候午夜的到来,等待圣诞老人的礼物。
我们假想圣诞老人穿一身红衣服,他独自一人从他北极的家出发,乘一辆八匹驯鹿拉的雪橇飞来,在午夜降落在房顶上,从烟囱下来。他把礼物放在我们的树下,并放一些玩具和糖果在我们的长统袜里。我们都会留给他一盘甜饼,一些喝的,并给驯鹿一个胡萝卜。我们认为那就是为什么圣诞老人这么胖的原因。
在圣诞节早晨,我们匆忙去起居室,打开我们的长统袜。有许多包装精致的包裹堆在树下,有的躺在树枝中。那些都是给我们的礼物。
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在我们看完礼物之后,我们去拜访我们的亲朋好友。我们相互问候并交换礼物。到了晚上,我们坐下来吃庆祝晚餐,通常是火鸡或汉堡包,我们谈论我们度过的快乐的这一天。
各国新年习俗
柬埔寨 韩国老式的迎新春,即“宋干节”(“宋干”是梵语的译音),也叫“泼水节”,是公历的第二年4月13日到16日。纪念日里,用户抬着或租车载着庞大的佛象出游,佛象里边跟随一艘辆鲜花拱门,车子上站着化了妆的“宋干小姐姐”,一大群结队的人性青年党员团,遮体色调花哨的中华民族儿童服装,敲着长鼓,载歌载舞。在游行队员由的通道四周围,善男信女夹道而行,用银钵里盛着用贝叶浸湿过的,渗有香精的水,泼洒到佛象和“宋干小姐姐”上,祈愿迎新春顺利,国泰民安,接着用户能够 洒水范围,喜笑颜开的祝父母身体长命,祝亲朋好友迎新春极其幸运、未婚先孕的青年党员团人性,则用泼水来带表双方互相的仰慕之情。韩国群体迎新春第二天都必须窗台、边上端放一盘用水,千家万户户户都必须到效外河水中去实行迎新春沭浴。为庆贺迎新春,韩国人成功举办在投资额的“赛象博览会”,内部有:人象拔河、跳象拾物、象跨人体、大象篮球赛、中国古代象阵舞台表演等。很是非常精彩迷人。 英国 每三年的的110月29日-年初3日为全省休节假日。泰国人把110月31日称作“大晦日”,也就算春节日。春节是夜晚,泰国尊称作“除夜”,除夜时这些 保佑神灵托福,送旧迎新,称作“初诣”。春节子夜,四处城乡经济庙宇分別敲钟108下,借此清除邪恶漫画,泰国仁的意思禅坐倾听“除夜之钟”,钟声停下来就代表新春的去。人民便离座滚床单睡觉了,机会得一好梦。泰国尊称国庆初二为“正日”。1-3日为“三贺日”。在正日,小辈须先去家属那处团拜,向家属问安,第二步到友人家团拜。泰国人困“正日”这些天,早饭是很丰盈的,吃砂糖竽艿、芥麦面等,喝屠苏酒。以至一接七天,则吃斋的,以示虔敬,保佑新的三年大吉大利。现泰国很多镇里人已认输新春吃斋良好习惯,改在“除夜”吃一顿中空鲜面,以祝在新的三年里,安全健康长期。 土耳其 沙特阿拉伯把尼罗河涨水的这一项天作为一个新春佳节的就着手,称是“涨水新春佳节”。沙特阿拉伯的克鲁特人动员新春佳节,在楼道口放一整张桌上,78只碟子供着豆子、扁豆、紫苜蓿和玉米的粒子,和许多健康值物的小芽,这表现丰裕。谢给神的商品就更多,新春佳节的收功绩就更多。沙特阿拉伯的新春佳节在深秋,因沙特阿拉伯的农耕出产就是从秋天模式就着手的。 非州
每年10月31日起为新年,共5天,第四天为元旦。新年第一天,谁也不许生气发脾气。有的地区,元旦早上家家户户哭声不断,他们以岁月易逝、人生苦短,用哭来迎新年。有些地区,禁食一天一夜来迎接新的一年。由于这种怪异的习俗,印度的元旦被人称为“痛哭元旦”、“禁食元旦”。在过年的前5天,印度各地都要演出印度史诗《罗摩衍那》,(意为罗摩的游行)。除夕夜,家家户户门前都张贴上各种精美图画。元旦早上,人们提着精制的小灯,拿着红粉包,出门向老人和亲友拜年。见面道喜后,就互相将红粉涂在对方的额上,表示吉祥如意,抬头见喜。年青人把红墨水装进水枪里,射到亲友身上,称为“洒红”,表示吉祥如意。印度青年喜欢在过新年时不管熟悉与否,见面徒手格斗,围观者叫好助威风。中部土著民族勃希勒人,为庆祝新年,在游戏场中竖立一根圆滑粗大的木杆,杆顶有一只盛着礼品的小袋,姑娘们手持竹竿竭力阻挠向杆上爬去的小伙子,小伙子们则在杆下围成一圈,努力防御姑娘们对爬杆者的攻击,直到爬竿者夺得小袋取得胜利为止。
朝鲜和我们中国一样,在新年也有贴窗花、桃符的匀俗。朝鲜人在新年时,家家户户贴对联和年画。有的人家在门上贴上寿星或仙女的画像,祈求上天保佑,驱走鬼魅,赐给幸福。元旦黎明,人们把一些钞票塞进了除夕预先扎好的稻草人中,扔到十字路口,表示送走邪恶,迎接吉祥福星。黄昏,人们又将全家人一年中脱落的头发烧掉,祝愿家人四季平安。新春佳节,朝鲜的妇女穿戴一新。元旦少女们头戴一种麻制的帽子,称为“福巾”,身穿带花纹的五色彩衣,进行荡秋千比赛。她们以一处树花为目标,看谁先踢到或咬到为胜。也有在高处挂上铜铃的,以先碰响者为冠军。新年期间,朝鲜人除了享以美酒佳肴外,还必须要做一种用糯米加上松子、栗子粉、枣泥和蜂蜜等,蒸煮成与我国的八宝饭相类似的甜饭食用,以预示家里人丁兴旺日子过得像蜜一样甜。