开年八件事，咱不缺

开年八件事，咱不缺

一年中最重要的日子已经来临，在此，语言学校小编来给大家拜年了。祝大家在新的一年里，健康吉祥，马上有钱，马年行大运呀。在这举国同庆的时刻，童鞋们是否把下面的开年八件事都做了个遍呢？

一、House Cleaning

打扫房屋

The dust is traditionally associated with "old" so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the "old" and usher in the "new". Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things, cleaning the spider webs and dredging the ditches. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.

辞旧迎新，灰尘在传统意义上是与“旧”联系在一起的。因而，春节的前几天，每家每户都把自己的房屋打扫个遍，扫地，清洗日用品，清除蛛网和疏浚沟渠。寓意来年有好运气。（小编的老家广东还有一句在农历12月28日常被人挂在嘴边的话语‘年廿八，洗邋遢’，意思是，农历12月28了，该把所有东西都洗洗干净，迎接新年了。）

二、House decoration

装饰房屋

One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.

最传统的装饰方法就是贴对联了。人们在春联上抒发美好的远景。由于双数在中国文化中象征着吉祥如意，因而春联是成对张贴的。

三、New Year Feast

年夜饭

Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. The New Year's Feast is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Eve banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher every year". In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is "Jiaozi" or  sweet dumplings ，means reunion.

春节寓意着团圆。家庭成员都从四面八方赶回来，参加这难得的聚会。年夜饭上的食物也根据地区的不同而不同。在南方，习惯吃“年糕”，因为其寓意着“年年高升”。在北方，传统的年夜饭则是“饺子”或者汤圆，寓意着团团圆圆。

四、Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year

等待春节的第一声钟声

The first bell ringing is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to a large squares where there are huge bells are set up on New Year’s Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. The people believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring the fortune to them.

午夜12点的第一声钟声，划过了宁静的夜空，随之而来的是震耳欲聋的欢呼声，预示着新年真的已经到来了。人们喜欢聚集到广场上，那里有为除夕设置的大钟，在激动人心的倒数声中，我们携手步入了新的一年。人们相信震耳欲聋的钟声能驱除恼人的坏运气，带来好运。

五、Staying up late （Shousui）

守岁

Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year’s arrival.

守岁意味着除夕夜不睡觉。年夜饭后，与家人聚在一起，聊聊过去一年的收获与得失，听长辈讲讲那过去的故事，在温馨的气氛中等待着春节的到来。

六、Setting Firecrackers

燃放鞭炮

The traditional New Year's Eve, accompanied by the midnight bell ,the deafening sound of firecrackers sounding. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully light their happiness in this especial occasion, even though they plug their ears.In recent years, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration.

传统的除夕夜，震耳欲聋的鞭炮声伴随着午夜12点的钟声响起。一家人熬夜就为了等待这个欢乐的时刻，孩子们一手拿着鞭炮，一手拿着打火机，点燃着这份特殊的快乐，哪怕当鞭炮声响起时还是吓得双手捂着耳朵。近年来，担心燃放鞭炮可能会带来危险和烦人的噪音，政府已在许多大城市下令禁止燃放鞭炮。但在小城镇和农村地区的人们仍然坚持这种传统的庆祝活动。

七、New Year Greetings

拜年

On the first day of the New Year or shortly thereafter, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi (congratulations), wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. it’s customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.

大年初一，大家纷纷穿上新衣服到亲戚朋友家拜年，彼此祝福来年有好运气，幸福美满。晚辈向长辈拜年，祝愿他们健康长寿，幸福安康。

八、Lucky Money

压岁钱

It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters. Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color.

压岁钱是长辈送给晚辈的祝福，传闻中，压岁钱能带来好运，能驱魔辟邪。长辈把钱放到小红包里，在一家人吃完年夜饭后或者大年初一当孩子来拜年的时候，就发给他们。在中国，红色是代表幸运的颜色。