第九天 Spring Festival

Of all our festivals, the Spring Festival is the most important to us Chinese. Several days before the lunar new year,we spring clean our houses and decorate them. Older people say that everything must be new and clean for the Spring Festival celebrations so that the new year will bring happiness and good luck. The celebration begins on the eve of the lunar new year, when the family gathers for dinner. No matter how far away from home a person is, he will always try to get home in time for this big dinner, which lasts a couple of hours. On the first day of the holiday, we usually stay at home. We get up fairly early and, first thing, exchange New Year greetings. On the second and the third days we go visiting relatives and friends. We sit around chatting and eating sweets and cakes and all kinds of delicacies. Every family prepares something special. The celebration sometimes lasts 15 days. The 15th night of first moon is called the Lantern Festival. This is the day when we young people go out to enjoy ourselves, and sometimes we dance folk dances far into the night.

第九天 春节

在众多的节日当中，春节是我们中国人最重要的一个节日。在农历新年的前几天，我们要把房子彻底地大扫除并将它们装饰一新。年长的人说，为了新年，所有的东西必须是新的和干净的。这样新的一年将带给人们幸福和好运。

庆祝仪式一般是从农历的除夕开始的，这时家庭成员承欢膝下在一起吃年夜饭。不论离家多远的人，都会尽量赶回家吃这一顿丰盛的年饭，尽管这顿饭也就两三个小时的功夫。春节的第一天，大家通常呆在家里。这一天，人们起得很早，而要做的第一件事情就是相互拜年。春节的第二天和第三天，人们便去走亲访友，大家坐一起边聊聊天边吃糖果、糕点和各种各样的美味佳肴。每个家庭都准备一些与众不同的东西。春节的庆祝有时会持续十五天。元月十五的晚上叫做元宵节。在这一天，我们年青人都到户外去玩个痛快，有时，大家还会跳起民间舞蹈，直到深夜。