Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.
Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims (清教徒) from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.
The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a threeday feast. The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.
In time, other colonies (殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed (宣布) the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian Thanksgiving Day falls on the second Monday in October.
Briton Andy Park has probably the rarest addiction in the world. He's addicted to celebrating Christmas.
Park, 45, is known as "Mr Christmas" in Britain. He has been celebrating the December 25 holiday on a daily basis for the past 12 years. He's eaten 4,380 turkeys and 87,600 pies, drunk 4,380 bottles of champagne (香槟酒), and 5,000 bottles of wine, given 21,900 presents, mostly to himself, and spent a fortune on lights and decorations. His festive craze (狂热) has so far cost all estimated (估算) US $427,500.
"I'm going to be doing it for another 12 years. I've never, ever been bored with it. " he said.
The electrician from Wiltshire, southwest England, starts his day with a big breakfast of six pies and a turkey sandwich before heading off to work.
He finishes work by 11:30 am in order to start roasting a turkey—the traditional Christmas dish.
At 3:00 pm he watches a video of the British Queen's annual Christmas speech to the Commonwealth, glass of wine in hand.
Dinner is turkey, wine and a bottle of champagne.
He lays his present to himself under the Christmas tree at 8:00 pm.
He even insists on a full Christmas dinner if he goes to a restaurant or to a friend's house for dinner.
Park is hoping his love of Christmas can translate into SUCCESS in the music charts when he releases a single. It's Christmas Every Day on December 9. "I want to be No. 1," he said. Before now, he has made unsuccessful singles such as The Christmas Man.
Millions of people crowded onto trains, airplanes and buses across China last week. They were hurrying home, to be with their families for China's most important holiday, Chinese New Year. More than one billion people around the world are celebrating the New Year.
History Behind the Holiday
The Chinese New Year is celebrated at the second new moon after the winter solstice (冬至). (The winter solstice is one of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator. It is also the shortest day of the year. ) According to an ancient legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. 12 animals came, and Buddha named a year after each animal. The animals were: the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
A Good Year to Be a Pig
Buddha announced that people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. If you were born in 1959, 1971, 1983 or 1995, you were born in the year of the Pig. People who were born in these years are believed to be polite, honest, hardworking and loyal. They are also supposed to be lucky, which is why many Chinese like to have babies in a Pig year. They are said to get along best with people born under the year of the Rabbit, Goat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse and Dog.
Festivals, Lions and Feasts
On Chinese New Year's Eve, the Chinese celebrate with fireworks, family gatherings, and feasts. One of the most popular ways to celebrate the holiday is the lion dance. The lion is considered a holy (神圣的) animal. During celebrations, dancers dressed as lions (or holding up elaborate paper lions in the air) perform to bring good luck to the people they visit at their homes or businesses. People often wear in red, which symbolizes fire. Legend has it that fire can drive away bad luck. The 15day New Year season is celebrated with firecrackers, dragon dances and visits to friends and relatives. The celebrations end with the Lantern Festival, when brightly colored lanterns are hung in parks around China.
With more recognition than Halloween and less than Christmas, Valentine's Day as an imported festival faces a dangerous situation in China, where it's caught between forces of tradition and fashion. Valentine's Day has a natural enemy in China. And it is not the Chinese equivalent, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar, usually around half a year away from Feb. 14. It is the Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, that will influence the Feast of Saint Valentine.
The real disagreement between East and West probably took place over a century ago, when China's door was forced open by Western powers and Chinese scholars supported westernization as a means to strengthen our nation's ability to compete.
The introduction of the solar calendar and Western measurements was both an acknowledgment of their influence and an effort to be accepted by the world order.
For a full century, we have had two systems running in parallel. When it comes to the eventual outcome, practicality usually beats all other concerns. Laws can help, such as the three traditional festivals of Tomb Sweeping, Dragon Boat and MidAutumn gaining legal status in 2008 and giving every Chinese citizen a day off, but laws cannot push what people have no feelings for. So, the celebration or boycott of imported holidays or homegrown ones should be no cause for worry. If they are irrelevant, no social media will change the public's mind; and if they are accepted, there must be a need which they happen to satisfy.
Since we have no global Qin Shihuang to force one system on every country, we can always rely on a dual (双重的) approach by which we share with the outside world on the one hand but preserve our own ways of life on the other.
Ways to Have a Joyful Chinese New Year
In many cultures, January 1st marks the beginning of a new year. It is one of the most important occasions for family reunions.
Usually, the Chinese New Year celebration lasts for three weeks, starting from the 23rd day of the previous year's 12th month of the lunar calendar until the 15th day of the New Year.
Here are some centuriesold traditions shared by the Chinese community in order to promote blessings of health and wealth in the New Year.
·Spring cleaning. It is widely believed that a freshly cleaned house will bring good luck to people.
· People will make red paper cuts, Chinese characters or red lanterns that mean luck, happiness and blessing, and stick them onto doors and windows.
·Setting off fireworks. In fairy tales, people managed to scare away a monster named Year by setting off fireworks.
·Lucky money. Seniors give kids lucky money in red envelopes, in the hope of making their future much brighter.
·Eating dumplings. The shape of a dumpling looks somewhat like a kind of money that was used in ancient times. It is a custom to eat dumplings on Chinese New Year's Eve as well as on the first and fifth days of the new year.
A. Making decorations.
B. Having preparations in advance.
C. The new year has two wonderful festivals.
D. Every family will clean the house one week ahead of the New Year.
E. In reality, the sound of fireworks can increase the festival atmosphere.
F. People believe the more dumplings you eat, the more wealth you will get during the new year.
G. But in the eyes of Chinese people, the traditional time of the new beginning is the Spring Festival.
It took three evenings for 21yearold college student Chen Xing to prepare a gift. What did he 1? He made a fine red Chinese Knot (中国结) as a special 2 for his mother's 50th birthday during Spring Festival.
3 a pretty circle, a character of the Chinese word "shou", which 4 a long life, is in the middle and a long tassel (流苏) below the 5. In fact, it is so beautiful and special.
"The 6 handtied knot is the best gift I ever 7," said Chen's mother, Wang Haijing. Wang, a Chinese Knot lover, hangs a 8 one in her house every Spring Festival.
"It's a(n) 9 symbol for a new year," Wang 10. "I always change for a new one every year. "
A 11 skill coming back at least 1,000 years, the Chinese Knot has __12__ wide welcome in cities in recent years.
Like Christmas trees in the 13 ， the Chinese Knot is the most 14 decoration for most Chinese families during the Lunar New Year celebration.
15 every supermarket in Beijing has a special counter to sell Chinese Knots of different sizes, 16 and colors.
The two largest Chinese Knots are being 17 at the Zhejiang Exhibition Hall in Hangzhou, in East China's Zhejiang Province. It 18 about 30 workers from across the country a full month to complete the19.
No matter how different the knots are, the messages of the knots are similar, 20 blessings of happiness, prosperity, love and good luck.
Dragon Headsraising Day, falls each year on the second day of the second lunar month, is one of the Chinese traditional festivals. As the proverb goes, "The dragon is awake, (raise) its head." On this day, dragons, a prominent totem (图腾) in Chinese culture raise (they) heads with the sound of thunder. Around this time, the earth (burst) with life. Grass and trees are beginning to shoot up. In ancient China, people (pray) beside a river or a lake for the precious spring rain to breed their crops.
(tradition), food eaten on this day was renamed after parts of the dragon. For instance, wontons were called "dragon's eyes". The special (food) usually eaten on this day include dragon's scales, popcorn and pig's heads.
In Shanxi, people get their hair (cut) in a symbolic move to remove the old and embrace the new. In countryside in Hebei Province, people would fetch water from a well at dawn. It was believed on this day the well was full of dragon eggs which would bring the collector a good harvest.
It was Christmas Day. Pappy was working alone fixing an old lantern in the backroom when he heard the ringing of his bell on the shop door. The bell, which produced a uniquely pleasant sound, had been in Pappy's family for over a hundred years. He valued it dearly and enjoyed sharing its song with all who came to his shop. Although the bell hung on the inside of the main door, Pappy had tied a wire to the screen door so that it would ring whether the inner door was open or not. Hearing the bell, he left the backroom to greet his customer.
"And how can I help you, little lady?" Pappy's voice was joyful.
"Hello, sir." The little girl spoke almost in a whisper. She looked at Pappy with her big brown eyes, and then slowly scanned the room in search of something special. Shyly she told him, "I'd like to buy a present, sir."
"Well, let's see," Pappy said, "who is this present for？"
"My grandpa. It's for my grandpa. But I don't know what to get."
Pappy began to make suggestions. "How about a pocket watch? It's in good condition." The little girl didn't answer. She had walked to the doorway and put her small hand on the door. She shook the door gently to ring the bell. Pappy's face seemed to glow as he saw her smiling with excitement.
"This is just right," the little girl said. "Momma says grandpa loves music."
Just then, Pappy's expression changed. Fearful of breaking the little girl's heart, he told her, "I'm sorry, Missy. That's not for sale. Maybe your grandpa would like this little radio. "
The girl looked at the radio, bowed her head, and sadly sighed," No, I don't think so. "
In an effort to help her understand, Pappy told her that the bell had been his only companion, for the rest of his family were all gone now, except for his estranged (疏远的) daughter whom he had not seen for nearly a decade.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
With a giant tear in her eye, the little girl looked up at him.
Paragraph 2：
Later that evening when Pappy was closing up the shop, he heard a familiar ringing.
