春节 The Spring Festival

When you ask the people around you, what is the most important festival in China, I guess 99% of the people will say the same answer, the Spring Festival. There is an old story about Spring Festival. It is said that the monster, named Nian, will attack people from time to time. In order to drive it away, people have to light up firecrackers and put some Red paper on the front door and window at the last day of the Chinese year. Luckily, the monster, Nian, is afraid of the sound of the firecrackers and the color red; dare not to come any more. In order to memorialize this day, our ancestors decided that the first lunar calendar day of the Chinese Year is the Spring Festival.

当你问周围的人，什么是中国最重要的节日，我想百分之九十九的人会说出同一个答案，那就是春节。关于春节的由来，还有个古老的故事。一个叫“年”的猛兽，会时不时的袭击人们。为了赶跑猛兽年，人们不得不在旧年的最后一天放鞭炮，在正门和窗户上贴上红纸。幸运的是，年因为害怕鞭炮的响声和红色的贴纸，不敢再来了。为了纪念这一天，我们的老祖宗把新年农历的第一天定为“春节”。

During the Spring Festival, all the member of the family will get together on the eve to have a big dinner. Fish, apple, noodle, dumplings, poke, chicken, candies and so on are indispensable on the table. Fish stands for wealth and rich of the coming year, apple stands for doing things smoothly, noodle stands for good health and long live, as to the others, they all symbolize for the lucky and happiness of the coming year.

在春节期间，所有的家庭成员都在除夕的晚上会聚集在一起吃年夜饭。鱼、苹果、面条、饺子、猪肉、鸡肉、糖果是餐桌上必不可少的。“鱼”代表着“年年有余”；“苹果”预示着“做事情平平安安，顺顺利利”；“面条”表示“健康长寿”，至于其他的，表示新年会甜甜蜜蜜有好运气。

Children are the happiest ones during the Spring Festival, not only they can have lots of companies but also they can have lucky money on the festival. With the lucky money, they can do whatever they want, such as to set off the firecrackers, wear new clothes, use their lucky money to buy the things they want; this is the best part of the Spring Festival, isn’t it?

小孩子是春节中最高兴的。不仅仅是因为他们多了很多小伙伴，他们还能拿到红包。有了红包，他们可以做任何想做的事情：放鞭炮，买新衣服，买一切想要的东西。对小孩子来说，这就是春节最好的地方了，难道不是吗？

The Spring Festival is not only means the beginning of the brand-new year, but also carrying the best wish of the people’s. We are hoping in the New Year our wish will come true, our life will become better. Anyway, the most meaningful thing of the Spring Festival is that we spend the time with the family, the people we love and we know that’s all about.

春节不仅仅意味着新年的开始，也承载着人们对新年的祝愿。我们希望新的一年愿望会实现，生活变得更好。不管怎么样，春节最有意义的就是阖家团圆，我们与家人一起度过，与我们爱的人一起度过，这就是春节的全部。