七夕
——中國的情人節(jié)

Chinese Double Seventh Festival

本篇適合：朗讀、挑戰(zhàn)

可能很多同學都聽說過西方有個情人節(jié)，但是中國的情人節(jié)，同學們又知不知道呢？在每年的農歷七月初七，我們中國有一個節(jié)日叫做七夕節(jié)，又叫乞巧節(jié)、七巧節(jié)或七姐誕。這個節(jié)日源于一個凡人與仙女之間的愛情故事。因此，民間漸漸把這個節(jié)日奉為中國的情人節(jié)。究竟這個節(jié)日是怎樣的呢？大家快跟我們一起來了解一下吧！

by WJ

Today, the Double Seventh Festival, or Qiqiao Festival, is known as Chinese Valentine’s Day（情人節(jié)）. It is on July 7th on the Chinese lunar calendar（陰歷）.

The origin（起源）of the Double Seventh Festival is a love story between Niulang (the Cowherd（牛郎）) and Zhinv (the Weaving（編織）Girl).

Long ago, a cowherd on the earth and a fairy（仙女）from the heavens（天國）fell in love with（愛上……）each other. They got married（結婚）and lived happily with a son and a daughter.

However, their marriage（婚姻）was not allowed（允許）according to（根據）the law（法律）of the heavens. So they were separated（分開）by a river in the heavens. But the queen of the heavens was moved by their love, so they were allowed to meet each year at the night of July 7th on the lunar calendar.

At that night, all the magpies（喜鵲）on the earth would fly up to the heavens to build a bridge over the river for the couple（夫妻）.

According to customs（習俗）, at the night of the Double Seventh Festival, girls will offer their sewing kits（針線包）as well as fruit and flowers to the Cowherd Star and Weaving Girl Star. They pray for（祈禱）intelligence（智慧）and smart（敏捷的）skills in needlework（針線活）and a marital（婚姻的）happiness.

Today, Chinese young people celebrate the Double Seventh Festival as a romantic（浪漫的）Valentine’s Day in China. Many people express（表達）their love to their sweethearts（心上人）with gifts, chocolates, flowers and romantic dinners.

判斷對錯。正確的填T，錯誤的填F。

( ) The Double Seventh Festival is on June 7th on the Chinese lunar calendar.

( ) A cowherd on the earth and a fairy from the heavens fell in love with each other.

( ) Niulang and Zhinv were separated by a river on the earth.

( ) The magpies built a bridge over the river for Niulang and Zhinv.

( ) Girls will only offer their sewing kits to the Cowherd Star and Weaving Girl Star.

中文大意及答案請見第47頁。