七夕——中国的情人节

七夕
——中国的情人节

Chinese Double Seventh Festival

本篇适合：朗读、挑战

可能很多同学都听说过西方有个情人节，但是中国的情人节，同学们又知不知道呢？在每年的农历七月初七，我们中国有一个节日叫做七夕节，又叫乞巧节、七巧节或七姐诞。这个节日源于一个凡人与仙女之间的爱情故事。因此，民间渐渐把这个节日奉为中国的情人节。究竟这个节日是怎样的呢？大家快跟我们一起来了解一下吧！

by WJ

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

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

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

However, their marriage（婚姻）was not allowed（允许）according to（根据）the law（法律）of the heavens. So they were separated（分开）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（喜鹊）on the earth would fly up to the heavens to build a bridge over the river for the couple（夫妻）.

According to customs（习俗）, at the night of the Double Seventh Festival, girls will offer their sewing kits（针线包）as well as fruit and flowers to the Cowherd Star and Weaving Girl Star. They pray for（祈祷）intelligence（智慧）and smart（敏捷的）skills in needlework（针线活）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（表达）their love to their sweethearts（心上人）with gifts, chocolates, flowers and romantic dinners.

判断对错。正确的填T，错误的填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.

中文大意及答案请见第47页。