The Chinese Lion Dance 中国舞狮

张紫轩

The Chinese Lion Dance is much like the Chinese Dragon Dance. They are both important festivities1 for Chinese festivals， specially Chinese New Year. People think that they can bring good luck and drive away bad things. The difference between the two is that the Dragon Dance is performed2 by a group of 12 dancers， but the Lion Dances performed by only 2 dancers.

中国的舞狮和中国的舞龙很像。它们都是中国节日尤其是春节当中重要的庆祝活动。人们认为它们可以带来好运和驱逐坏事。两者的不同之处在于，舞龙是由十二名舞者组成，而舞狮是由两名舞者组成。

The Lion Dancers need to move very quickly when they perform lots of difficult moves. One takes the head and the other takes the body of the Lion.

舞狮者在表演很多高难度动作时，动作要非常快。一个人负责狮子的头部，另一个人负责狮子的身躯。

The Chinese Lion Dance start on New Years Day and keep going until the end of all festivities. During that time， the lion dancers run along the streets to bring good luck to everyone they meet. They visit many places， like stores， restaurants and businesses3...As they go， a “laughing Buddha4” will go with them. That “laughing Buddha” uses a fan5 to make lions perform those moves， like jump and sit down. And people along the way will throw6 red envelopes7 with money to the Lions mouth.

中国舞狮从元旦开始，一直持续到所有庆祝活动结束。在这段时间里，舞狮队在街上奔走，为他们遇到的每个人带来好运。他们走访了许多地方，如商店、餐馆和企业……当他们表演的时候，一个“弥勒佛”会和他们一起表演。那个“弥勒佛”用扇子指挥狮子做一些动作，比如跳跃、坐下。而沿途的人们会把装有钱的红包扔到狮子的嘴里。

Businesses will hang8 some vegetables with the red envelope. The Lion group will have to get the green vegetables. Usually the dancer in the body position9 needs to help the dancer in the head position to get the greens. They “eat” the money and throw up the vegetables. They throw the fresh10 vegetables around to give out the good luck and also to mean a“fresh start” for the new year. Sometimes the greens are put on the floor for the lions， too.

商家会在红色信封上挂一些蔬菜，狮子们要去拿这些绿色的菜。通常，身位的舞者需要帮助头位的舞者拿到青菜。他们把钱 “吃”掉，把菜吐出来。他们把新鲜的青菜散出去，是为了送出好运，也意味着新的一年有一个“新的开始”。有时，青菜也会被放在地上给狮子“吃”。

There are two kinds of lions. The Northern Lions are very difficult with the lions performing moves. In the Chinese New Year Temple Fairs11 in Beijing， Northern Lions performances are so interesting that many people would come to see.

狮子有两种。北狮的表演动作极有难度。在北京的春節庙会上，北狮的表演非常有趣，很多人都会来观看。

The Southern Lions are the most seen ones in our life. The performances have been more funny than difficult. But their performances are being influenced12 a lot by the Northern lions so that some of the performances are just as difficult and interesting.

南狮是我们生活中最常见的。他们的表演与其说是难度高，不如说是滑稽有趣。但是他们的表演受到北方狮子的影响很大，所以有些表演也一样有难度且有趣。

（英语原文选自：china-family-adventure.com）

【Notes】

1. festivity n. 庆祝活动 2. perform  vt. 演出，表演

3. business  n. 公司;商业机构 4. laughing Buddha  n. 笑佛，弥勒佛

5. fan  n. 扇子 6. throw vt. 掷;扔

7. red envelope  n. 红包 8. hang  vt. 悬挂，吊;吊着

9. position  n. 位置，方位，地点 10. fresh  adj. 新的，新鲜的

11. temple fair n. 庙会 12. influence  vt. 影响，支配