视听说文本及答案Unit9Book1

Unit

9 Holidays and Special Days

Part

One

Linda:

(

with a moon cake in her mouth

) Mm, this is good.

Chris:

Yeah... very interesting flavor. So this is a so-called moon cake?

Yingying:

Yeah, today is a special festival for all Chinese families. It is called

Mid- Autumn Festival or Moon Festival. People will eat moon cakes during the

festival with family members in the moonlight. It's just like your American

Thanksgiving.

Linda:

Oh, I've heard a little about it... the beautiful story of Hou Yi and Chang Er.

Chinese Students:

You know the story?

Chris:

Sure, Linda and I are both very interested in Chinese culture, especially

Chinese traditional festivals, like Spring Festival...

Linda:

It was an unforgettable experience when we were invited to Xiaoqiang's home

for the Chinese New Year.

Xiaoqiang:

I noticed that Chris was especially fascinated by the lion and dragon

dancing.

Chris:

And the fireworks,

jiaozi

, oh yes, and the red envelopes.

Wenwen:

Yeh. We Chinese have a lot of traditional festivals.

Linda:

Can you tell me about some of the others?

Wenwen:

Yeh. One of my favorite festivals falls on the 15th day of the first lunar

month. That's the Lantern Festival. During that event, many kinds of delicate and

beautiful lanterns are exhibited and red lanterns can be seen everywhere. And every

family eats

yuanxiao

, a kind of rice ball filled with bean paste, sugar or some other

sweet things. That's a symbol of family reunion and happiness.

Yingying:

Also there's the Qingming Festival, which some people call

Sweeping Day

Chris:

Tomb Sweeping?

Yingying:

Yeah! This day is devoted to honoring relatives who died. Thousands of

Chinese visit the tombs of their loved ones. The Chinese have great respect for their

ancestors.

Linda:

That sounds very nice.

Xiaogang:

Well, another important festival in China is the Dragon Boat Festival.

Xiaoqiang:

You mean

duanwu jie

?

Xiaogang:

Yes. It falls on the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

People usually race dragon boats and eat

zongzi

on that day.

Chris:

I like

zongzi

very much. But why do people celebrate the holiday this way?

Xiaogang:

The fact is, these activities are traditional customs to honor the patriotic

poet, Qu Yuan. He drowned himself on this day in 277 B.C. because his king did not

take his advice and his state was conquered. Since then, each year on the 5th day of

the 5th month people take boats and throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into

the water to feed the fish in order to save his body. Later the custom of racing boats

and eating

zongzi

became part of the celebration.

Linda:

That's interesting, and you always have stories about them.

Wenwen:

(

mysteriously

) Any of you know the

Chris:

Isn't the

Xiaogang:

Yes. Since the word

Chinese, this number represents

this became

mountains and honor their family members on this day.

Linda:

Oh, that's interesting! Then how about

no idea about it.

Wenwen:

I guess you could call it our traditional Chinese Valentine's Day.

Linda:

Valentine's Day? Really?

Wenwen:

Yeah, an ancient Chinese legend tells the story about the cowherd and the

weaving maid, who made the gods angry by their secret love and later the two were

separated on two widely distant stars. And on that day, the 7th day of the 7th lunar

month, each year, sympathetic magpies form a bridge between the stars and this

allows the couple to meet again. And the day is celebrated by the exchange of cards,

love letters, or flowers.

Chris and Linda:

(

both

) Oh! That's very romantic!

Exercise

2

1.c,d,I

2.C,f ,j

3.B,g

4.A,a.h

5.k

6.b

7.D,e

Exercise

3

ght

ettable

invited

ted

everywhere

sugar

family

reunion

ones

respect

d

take

his

advice

throw

feed

r

long

life

love

separated

bridge

Part

Two

Listening

I

Jingle Bells

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh.

Over the fields we go, laughing all the way.

Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright.

Oh! What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.

Now the ground is white,

Go it while you're young,

Take the girls tonight,

And sing this sleighing song. Get a bobtail bay,

Two forty for his speed,

Then hitch him to an open sleigh,

And crack!

You'll take the lead.

ng

t

Listening

II

Thanksgiving

On the fourth Thursday in November, in houses around the United States, families get

together for a feast, or a large meal. Almost all families eat turkey and cranberry

sauce for this meal, and have pumpkin pie for dessert. This feast is part of a very

special day, the holiday of Thanksgiving.

In 1620 the Pilgrims made a difficult trip across the ocean from England. They landed

in what is now Massachusetts. In England the Pilgrims had not been allowed to freely

practice their religion. So they went to the New World in search of religious freedom.

The Pilgrims' first winter was very hard. Almost half the group died of cold, hunger

and disease. But the Indians of Massachusetts taught the Pilgrims to plant corn, to

hunt and to fish. When the next fall came, the Pilgrims had plenty of food. They were

thankful to

Indians to join them. This was the first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving became a national holiday many years later because of the effort of a

woman named Sarah Hale. For forty years Sarah Hale wrote to each president and

asked for a holiday of Thanksgiving. At last she was successful. In 1863 President

Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday.

Exercise

1

1.B

2.A

3.A

4.B

5.C

Exercise 2

1.4

th

er

n

4.1621

h

7.1863

n

Listening

III

Saint Valentine's Day

Several different stories are told about the origin of Saint Valentine's Day. One legend

dates as far back as the days of the Roman Empire. According to the story, Claudius,

the Emperor of Rome, wanted to increase the size of his army. He knew that it would

be easier to get young men who were not married to join. Therefore he made a rule

that no young man could marry until he had served a certain number of years in the

army.

A priest named Valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great many young

people. Finally, Claudius found out about Valentine and put the priest in prison,

where he remained until his death on February 14.

After his death, Valentine was made a saint, and the day of his death was named Saint

Valentine's Day. It became the custom for lovers to send each other messages on this

day. Now Saint Valentine's Day is a time for people to give roses or chocolates and to

send one another greetings.

Exercise

1

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.D

5.C

Exercise

2

1.T

2.F

3.F

4.F

5.T

Part

Three

Practice

One

The origin of Halloween dates back at least 3,000 years to the Celtic celebration of

Samhain (pronounced