VOA标准英语2013--Ancient Festival Unites Egyptian Muslims, Christians

 

Ancient Festival Unites Egyptian Muslims, Christians²

In this time of tension between Muslims and Christians, Egyptians of both faiths are celebrating a spring festival that predates their religions.

"Celebrating Sham³ el Nessim is an old pharonic celebration. It starts at the end of the winter season and the beginning of the spring season,” said Yehia Elghazzawy, a historian⁴ at Cairo University.

Four thousand years ago, the vernal equinox was calculated using the shadows of the pyramids.

Now Sham el Nessim is tied to the Coptic Christian¹ calendar - falling the day after Orthodox⁵ Easter.

Some fundamentalist Muslims reject the holiday, seeming to conflate the two, or viewing it as pagan.

But for most, it is simply a long-standing tradition, celebrating the beginning of a new season, marked by eating salted fish and decorating eggs - a practice later adopted by many Christians.

"It is a tradition every year in Sham el Nessim to wake early and come help my grandmother color the eggs,” said one girl.

It is a time of family and friends and neighbors, who do as the name means - “smell the breeze” - outdoors at picnics or in walks along the Nile.

It may be hard to keep all the troubles of recent months at bay as even the price of eggs has gone up.

For many in this troubled and divided country, however, Sham el Nessim is a chance to celebrate just being Egyptian. 

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

3 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

4 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

5 orthodox   

adj.正统的，传统的，惯常的

参考例句：

• They are orthodox Jews.他们是正统的犹太教徒。
• His ideas are very orthodox.他的思想非常合乎规范。