英语课程计划-Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is, of course, the day before Christmas Day. It’s quite a busy day for most people who celebrate Christmas. There are so many things to do – usually last minute things. For example, you have to quickly send a Christmas card to people you forgot, especially when they sent you one. You also have to do last minute Christmas shopping. I always find Christmas Eve afternoon is a good time to shop. Many people think this is a busy time, but the Christmas rush is over and the shops are quite empty. You just have to hope they haven’t run out of wrapping² paper and sellotape. Then you have to go home and wrap¹ all of your presents and put them under the Christmas tree in the living room. It’s such a lovely sight seeing a decorated tree with lots of wrapped³ boxes and parcels⁴ under it.

Christmas Eve is not the same in all countries. In Denmark, for example, Christmas Eve is when people have Christmas dinner and open their presents. I think most people go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. This is a special church service held at midnight to remember the birth of Jesus. I think one of the oldest jokes in the world is: “What time is Midnight Mass?” It’s an easy joke to figure out. Of course, Christmas Eve is the busiest night of the year for Santa Claus. People in England call him Father Christmas. If you look really carefully, you’ll see him flying through the air on his sleigh full of presents. He used to climb down people’s chimneys⁵ to deliver his presents. I’m not sure what he does nowadays because people don’t have chimneys.

1 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。

2 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。

3 wrapped   

adj.有包装的，预先包装的v.包( wrap的过去式和过去分词 )；覆盖；用…包裹（或包扎、覆盖等）；卷起

参考例句：

• The chocolates are individually wrapped in gold foil. 巧克力用金箔纸一颗颗独立包装。
• Would you like the chocolates gift-wrapped? 你要把巧克力糖打成礼品包吗？

4 parcels   

n.包裹( parcel的名词复数 )；一块地

参考例句：

• the registration of letters and parcels 信件和包裹的挂号
• She was burdened with a large quantity of parcels. 她吃力地捧着一大堆包裹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 chimneys   

n.烟囱( chimney的名词复数 )；烟筒；（岩石间可供攀登的）狭孔；狭缝

参考例句：

• the silhouette of chimneys and towers 烟囱和塔楼的轮廓
• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys. 你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。 来自《简明英汉词典》