Helen: Hello. Welcome to Ask About Britain from BBC Learning English. I’mHelen.

    Li: 我是杨莉。欢迎收听英国问答节目。

    Helen: Leilah Lee has been working on her paper about cultural differences inwedding celebrations.

    Li: That’s great. 有关婚礼的习俗，你快说说吧!

    Helen: First, Leilah wants to know why brides throw their bridal bouquet at theend of their wedding.

    Li: Bouquet 花束，为什么在婚礼结束时，新娘要把花束抛向空中?

    Helen: And where better to find an expert than at the National Wedding Show?

    Li: Barbara Collins 是一位婚礼筹划人 a wedding planner, 专门作婚礼的策划工作。

    Helen: I put Leilah’s question to Barbara and this is how she explained thebouquet throwing tradition.

    InsertMainly because traditionally, at the end of a wedding, the bride and groom wouldgo off and they wouldn’t be going home. So they’d have a bouquet and what wouldone do with it? So they throw it to all the ladies, and the next lady who catches it,is the one to get married. So it’s quite a big tradition and something people getreally excited about, ‘cos obviously a girl wants to know if she’s the next to getmarried on a wedding day.

    Li: Barbara 介绍说在婚礼结束后新娘和新郎将外出度蜜月不直接回家，新娘 thebride 新郎 the groom.

    Helen: Yes, the bride and groom would usually head off to their honeymoonafter the wedding. It’s a good idea to travel light, and that means theflowers are not going with them.

    Li: 啊，原来这就是我们经常看到的新娘出门之际把花束朝后朝单身女子人群里面抛过去的那个的场面。

    2Helen: All the girls would try to reach the bouquet, because the girl whocatches the bouquet is the next one to get married.

    Li: 那可是激动人心的时刻因为按照英国习俗，谁接到了鲜花就将成为下一个新娘。

    Helen: That’s right. And throwing the bridal bouquet is just one of manywedding traditions in the UK. Another one is throwing confetti as thebride and groom come out of the church.

    InsertThat’s also quite a popular tradition, and it’s called throwing confetti; normallywhen people come out of the church. I think it’s something from a very long timeaway, about throwing away evil spirits, and again it’s just a tradition that stayedand it’s very popular - and now more people tend to throw real petals than confettiitself.

    Li: Confetti 就是五彩纸削，撒到新人头上，其效果就像是小碎纸片淋浴。

    Helen: This particular tradition is about throwing away evil spirits.

    Li: 这样做是为了驱赶邪恶 evil spirits.

    Helen: Now flower petals are a popular alternative to paper because they’rebiodegradable and look pretty too.

    Li: Biodegradable 可生物降解的，新在人们多采用鲜花的花瓣代替传统的五彩纸削，因为这对保护环境有益。

    Helen: Laura Binder is the features editor at Your London Wedding magazine.

    She tells us a few wedding superstitions.

    InsertI think the main one probably is for the groom to not see the bride in her dressbefore the wedding day; that’s supposed to be bad luck.

    Li: 婚礼杂志的编辑劳拉说，新娘一般都不会让新郎在婚礼之前看到自己身着婚纱的样子。

    Helen: Because that’s considered bad luck.

    Li: 倒运的。如果新郎在婚礼前就看见了婚纱，那就不吉利了。

    InsertI’ve heard that if you put a slice of the wedding cake under your pillow, you’ll thendream of the man you’re going to marry.

    Helen: Wedding cake and your dream man.

    Li: I haven’t heard of this one before. 劳拉说，如果你要把一片婚礼蛋糕放到自己睡觉的枕头下面，那么你就会跟自己的梦中情人结为伉俪。

    3Helen: Make sure it’s in a container or something that’s grease proof.

    Li: Good idea. 婚礼蛋糕经常是粘糊糊。如果枕头下有这块蛋糕伴你入睡，那么你就会梦见你未来的丈夫。 Any more wedding traditions, Helen?

    Helen: Yes. Here's Barbara again.

    InsertThings that one wouldn’t do. Normally, one wouldn’t get married in black or ingreen, because green is supposed to be an unlucky colour. And obviously there’salways a risk about whether you invite previous partners.

    Li: 大部分新娘都会选择白色婚纱，不过你也可以根据自己的偏好来选择其他颜色，但是最好回避黑和绿这两种颜色。

    Helen: Black and green are supposed to be unlucky colours.

    Li: Barbara 还提出一个建议，就是不要轻易地邀请自己已经离异的伴侣参加婚礼。

    Helen: Inviting ex-partners can be a risky; you can never be sure what mighthappen.

    Li: Well, that brings us to the end of our programme today. 希望今天大家对和西方婚礼习俗有了一定的了解。如果有机会，大家也别忘了常来我们的网站看看，我们的网址是 www.bbcchina.com.cn.

    Helen: You can also send us your question in an email to [email protected].

    See you next time.

    Li: 下次节目再见。