英闻天下——255 Preparations for Spring Festival in Full Swing

 　　Grocery stores are crowded with people in the days leading up to the Spring Festival. The weeklong Lunar New Year holiday will kick off Saturday with New Year's Eve celebrated¹ traditionally with family.

 

　　Shoppers are buying red lanterns, scrolls² with poetic³ couplets, paper cuttings and plush snake toys to express their best wishes for the Lunar New Year and decorate their homes.

 

　　"I came here with my mom. I want to buy a pair of couplets to decorate my home."

 

　　"We are happy since our life is better. I've built a new house. I'd like to buy some red lanterns to decorate it."

 

　　The days leading up to the holiday are a busy time for China's markets and food industry. People like to buy lots of meat, vegetables, candy and various fried snacks.

 

　　Wang Fang⁴ is the sales manager of a supermarket.

 

　　"Among all the fried snacks, hazelnuts and peanuts sell very well. Now we have reached the peak of the Spring Festival sale season."

 

　　In ethnic⁵ minority regions, people are preparing for the Spring Festival with their own traditions.

 

　　Take Ganzhou in Jiangxi Province, for example, where many Hakkas live. Various decorations and food are sold in the markets.

 

　　Mr. Liao is a migrant worker. When he saw the special Hakka snack—peanut cakes—he bought five packages without hesitation⁶. He says he misses the taste of his hometown.

 

　　"I bought these for me and as gifts for relatives and friends. Actually, I seldom come back home during the Spring Festival. I miss the food here so much."

 

　　Sharing a meal with family on Lunar New Year's Eve is the best way for Chinese people to get into the festive⁷ spirit. In Beijing, many time-honored restaurants provide family feasts⁸ to go.

 

　　Yang Hao is the manager of You Yi Shun⁹ Muslim Restaurant. He says the sale of the package of cooked dishes at the restaurant has increased by 20 percent.

 

　　"The package of dishes is not expensive. The cooked food is put in vacuum packs, so it's very convenient."

 

　　In the southern regions of China, people like to eat eight-treasures rice pudding during the Spring Festival. A famous snack shop in Shanghai is crowded with people who have come to buy the puddings.

 

　　"The pudding is made from several materials, so it's called eight-treasures rice pudding. It'll bring us good luck."

 

　　The manager of the snack shop says his employees must prepare 20-thousand packages of pudding every day.

 

　　"All the staff comes to work at 5:30 in the morning and leaves at 9 o'clock in the evening. People like the puddings, so we have to make more."

 

　　Many Chinese have also planned leisure activities during Spring Festival holidays. Snow-themed parks in Beijing will entertain southern tourists who come to experience the ice world, and Shanghai will offer a landscape lantern show during the Spring Festival.

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 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

3 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

4 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

7 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

8 feasts   

n.盛会( feast的名词复数 )；宴会；宗教节日；使人欢快的事物（或活动）

参考例句：

• There were feasts and drinking and singing by the bards. 他们欢宴狂饮，还有吟游诗人的歌唱作伴助兴。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The fruit was often served at wedding feasts. 婚宴上经常有水果供应。 来自辞典例句

9 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。