元旦的习俗英文介绍：托福口语材料

 　　托福口语材料：外国元旦的习俗英文介绍

　　From great balls of fire, to possums, grape-eating and animal whispering, we reveal the world's weirdest¹ New Year customs.

　　Great balls of fire, Scotland

　　In Stonehaven, Scotland, there is a custom of parading through the streets on New Year’s Eve while swinging blazing balls of fire around.

　　The tradition is part of Scotland’s Hogmanay celebrations, although its roots trace back to the Vikings.

　　Graveyard² camp, Chile

　　Locals inTalca, central Chile, like to see in the new year in the company of their dead relatives. Thought to have begun when a family broke in one year to be near their dead father, the town mayor now opens the graveyard after late-night mass and thousands sit surrounded by candles while classical music plays.

　　Animal whispering, Romania

　　Farmers try to hear their animals talk in a ritual which, if successful, signifies not just a Doctor Dolittle gift for communicating with our furry³ relatives but good luck for the coming year.

　　Mass kissing, Venice

　　St Mark’s Square is known for holding not only a big firework display over the Basin of St. Mark but for something far more unusual, a mass kiss-in in the piazza⁴.

　　Throwing furniture, South Africa

　　Look out below! It’s the idea of starting the new year afresh that leads residents of Johannesburg, those in Hillsboro in particular, to throw old furniture out of their windows. Italians follow a similar tradition and, not wanting to be lumbered⁵ with anything unwanted, conduct an early spring clean by way of their windows.

　　Underwater tree planting, Siberia

　　This is the Siberian custom of cutting a hole in the ice covering Lake Baikal and diving to the lake’s bottom while carrying a New Year’s tree. Note: only professional divers⁶ participate.

　　Bear dances, Romania

　　People wanting to celebrate new year in Romania put on bear costumes and furs and dance at different houses to keep evil at bay.

　　Possum-dropping, America

　　In the town of Brasstown, North Carolina, a possum in a transparent⁷ box is lowered over a noisy crowd, in the world’s only known “possum-drop”. It reflects Brasstown’s claim to be “the possum capital of the world”.

　　Grape eating, Spain

　　Revellers seeing in the new year in Spain have their mouths full when they try to stuff twelve grapes in - one for each chime of the clock during the countdown.

　　Having a ball, New York

　　In cities around the world, from Sydney to Amsterdam, the first seconds of the new year are marked by fireworks. But dropping a ball on New Year's Eve is a wholly American tradition to count down the last fleeting⁸ moments.

　　The first ball dropped at midnight on New Year's Eve remains⁹ the most famous: the one on top of One Times Square in New York City.

　　At this New Year's Eve party, 'you shut up'

　　Here comes 2014! Three! … Two! … Mum.

　　While hundreds of thousands of revelers cheer, shout and yell in the new year in Times Square, hundreds of New Yorkers will gather not far away to pass the waning¹⁰ hours of 2013 without a word.

1 weirdest   

怪诞的( weird的最高级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的

参考例句：

• Think of the weirdest, craziest shit you'd like to see chicks do. 想想这最怪异，最疯狂的屁事。你会喜欢看这些鸡巴表演的。
• It's still the weirdest damn sound I ever heard out of a Jersey boy. 这是我所听过新泽西人最为怪异的音调了。

2 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

3 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

4 piazza   

n.广场；走廊

参考例句：

• Siena's main piazza was one of the sights of Italy.锡耶纳的主要广场是意大利的名胜之一。
• They walked out of the cafeteria,and across the piazzadj.他们走出自助餐厅,穿过广场。

5 lumbered   

砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• A rhinoceros lumbered towards them. 一头犀牛笨重地向他们走来。
• A heavy truck lumbered by. 一辆重型卡车隆隆驶过。

6 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

7 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

8 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》