Take Away English-Advent (耶稣)降临节

Christmas shopping is exciting for children

“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.”

Christmas is the biggest festival in Britain and is celebrated¹ on 25th December. The four weeks before Christmas are called Advent², and are traditionally³ celebrated in churches by lighting⁴ a candle each Sunday during Advent.

Nowadays, many people in Britain are not very religious⁵, but they still celebrate Christmas. But watch out - the preparations begin long before Advent. In fact as early as September or October, you start to see signs that Christmas is on the way.

The first places to tell us that we should be thinking about Christmas are the shops. People in Britain spend on average over £600 (around $1000) per person on Christmas every year, and the shops encourage people to spend more and more.

Shops put up Christmas decorations and play cheesy Christmas songs or carols; and some shop workers wear Christmas hats. Some big shops on Regent Street and Oxford⁶ Street in London create wonderful displays in their windows with moving characters, falling snow, colourful lights and music.

So what do people buy in preparation for Christmas? Well, Christmas decorations; Christmas cards to send to your friends and relatives; presents for your loved ones and wrapping⁸ paper to wrap⁷ them up with.

And of course food! Apart from the special Christmas dinner of roast⁹ turkey or goose, people buy lots of chocolates, nuts and snacks for everyone to enjoy.

But the children are the most excited that Christmas is coming. They start making lists of presents they would like, and give them to their parents, or send them to Santa Claus. In December, they can also open their Advent calendars.

Advent calendars are a way of counting down to Christmas. They have a window to open for every day from 1st – 24th December (Christmas Eve).

A basic Advent calendar has a Christmassy picture behind each window, but the children’s favourite is usually a chocolate Advent calendar, with a chocolate for every day of the month. It’s a great build up to the overeating that goes on at Christmas!

GLOSSARY 词汇表
traditionally 传统上的 on the way 即将来临 on average 平均 per person 每一个人 encourage 鼓励 cheesy 俗套的 carols 圣诞颂歌 Christmas decorations 圣诞装饰 loved ones 亲人	wrapping paper （礼品）包装纸 apart from 除…之外 snacks 小吃 Santa Claus 圣诞老人 calendars 日历 Christmassy 圣诞的 favourite 最喜欢的 最喜欢的 build up 累积 overeating 大吃大喝；过量吃喝

 

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

3 traditionally   

adv.传说地；传统地

参考例句：

• Traditionally,people clean the house before the Spring Festival.传统上，人们在春节前打扫房子。
• Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year.根据传统，医学奖是诺贝尔奖每年颁发的第一个奖项。

4 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

5 religious   

adj.宗教性的，虔诚的，宗教上的；n.修道士，出家人

参考例句：

• She is very religious person who goes to church every Sunday.她十分虔诚，每个星期天都上教堂。
• It is hard for me to reject religious beliefs.要我抛弃自己的宗教信仰是困难的。

6 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

7 wrap   

n.外套，围巾，包裹，限制，约束，秘密；vt.包装，卷，缠绕，包，裹，覆盖，遮蔽，隐藏

参考例句：

• You'd better wrap it with a piece of clean cloth.你最好用一块干净的布把它包起来。
• You can wrap the skirt around your waist.你可以把裙子围在腰间。

8 wrapping   

n.包装材料；包装纸v.包，裹住(wrap的现在分词)adj.包装用的

参考例句：

• He spent the evening wrapping up the Christmas presents. 他花了一个晚上的时间把圣诞礼物都包了起来。
• She tore the cellophane wrapping off the box. 她把包装盒子的玻璃纸撕了下来。

9 roast   

v.烤，炙，烘；n.烤肉；adj.烤(烘)过的

参考例句：

• There's a piece of roast beef.这儿有一块烤牛肉.
• Put the meat into the oven to roast.把肉放到炉子里去烤。