常春藤生活英语【114】A Celebration of Girls and Dolls 女孩限定——日本女儿节

A Celebration of Girls and Dolls 女孩限定——日本女儿节

Every year on March 3, the Japanese celebrate Girls' Day by praying for their young daughters' health and future happiness. Girls' Day is also called the Doll Festival because people arrange special dolls on a staircase-like shelf a few weeks before March 3. On the day of the festival, a party is held for the girls where sake and diamond-shaped rice cakes are consumed. The dolls are then promptly boxed up on March 4. If not, according to superstitions, the daughters will have a hard time finding a husband.

Girls' Day is connected to an old custom that used dolls to get rid of evil. Families would make dolls out of paper, breathe on them, and then rub them against their bodies. This transferred any bad luck the family members had to the dolls. Afterwards, the dolls were taken to the nearest river and thrown in. As they floated away, the dolls took the bad luck with them.

Nowadays, festival dolls are beautiful, expensive, and are not thrown away. Instead, they stay with a girl throughout her life and are taken good care of. Brides even take their dolls with them after getting married. These former carriers of bad luck have now become treasured mementos.

每年的三月三日，日本人会为他们年幼的女儿祈求健康及将来的幸福，藉此庆祝女儿节。女儿节又称为人偶节，这是因为人们在三月三日的数周前就会在阶梯状的架子上摆设特别的人偶。在女儿节当天，人们会替女孩们举行派对，并且享用清酒及菱饼（编按：菱饼是一种有粉红、白、绿等三层颜色的菱形糕饼）。在三月四日时，这些人偶会立刻被装箱收起。如果没这么做，根据迷信，该户人家的女儿就很难找得到归宿。

女儿节与一个利用人偶来避邪的古老习俗有关。家家户户会用纸来做人偶，然后对着人偶吹气，接着用人偶摩擦他们的身体。这样做能把家人所遭受的任何厄运都转移到人偶上。然后他们会把人偶带到最近的河边，接着丢入河中。当人偶漂走时，厄运也随之被带走。

如今，这些节庆的人偶美丽、昂贵，而且不再被人丢弃。它们反而会陪伴女孩一辈子，并且受到妥善照顾。新嫁娘甚至会在婚后带走人偶。这些从前的厄运宿主，如今变成了人们珍藏的纪念品。

Questions

1. What do Japanese people do to celebrate Girls' Day?
(A) All girls go swimming in a river.
(B) They clean their houses and throw away old dolls.
(C) They arrange beautiful dolls on a special shelf.
(D) Married women visit their side of the family.

1. 日本人会如何庆祝女儿节？
(A) 所有女孩会到河里游泳。
(B) 他们会打扫家里，并且丢掉旧人偶。
(C) 他们会把漂亮的人偶陈设在特别的架子上。
(D) 已婚妇女会回娘家拜访。

2. Which is NOT true about the doll traditions in Japan?
(A) Japanese people believed they could transfer their bad luck to dolls.
(B) The dolls used to be made out of paper.
(C) People now store the dolls carefully after the festival.
(D) Girls will throw their dolls into a river on their wedding day.

2. 关于日本的人偶传统，何者为非？
(A) 日本人相信可以把自身的厄运转移到人偶上。
(B) 以前的人偶是用纸做的。
(C) 如今人们会在节日后小心翼翼地把人偶收好。
(D) 女孩会在结婚当日把她们的人偶丢进河里。

答案：1. (C)　2. (D)

Building Your Vocabulary

1.celebrate　vt. 庆祝
We ate out to celebrate Mom's birthday.
我们上馆子吃饭来庆祝妈妈的生日。
2.consume　vt. 吃；喝
Many snacks were consumed at the party.
宴会上的点心被吃掉了不少。
3.promptly　adv. 立刻地；迅速地
Jay promptly finished his homework.
阿杰迅速地做完了功课。
4.transfer　vt. 转移；迁移
The entire production line was transferred to another country.
这整条生产线都被迁移到另一个国家去了。
5.float　vi. 漂；浮
A lot of trash floats in that dirty river.
许多垃圾漂浮在那条肮脏的河里。

Phrases for Learning

1.box...up/box up...　　把……装入箱∕盒内
Jennifer boxed up all of her old toys.
珍妮弗把她的旧玩具全都装箱了。
2.breathe on...　　对……呼气
Don't breathe on me! Your breath smells.
别对着我呼气！你的口气很臭。
3.rub A against/on B　　以 A 摩擦 B
My cat likes rubbing her face on my leg.
我的猫喜欢用牠的脸来摩擦我的腿。

Extra Words

1. staircase　n. 楼梯
2. sake　n. 日本清酒
3. diamond　n. 菱形
4. superstition　n. 迷信
5. memento　n.（用以纪念某人事物的）纪念物

SENTENCE PATTERN

...the daughters will have a hard time finding a husband.
（……该户人家的女儿就很难找得到归宿。）
have a hard time + (in) + 动名词∕with 名词
= have trouble + (in) + 动名词∕with 名词
= have difficulty + (in) + 动名词∕with 名词
= have problems + (in) + 动名词∕with 名词
做……有困难；在……方面有困难
Dan has difficulty (in) getting up early.
（阿丹很难早起。）
Vivian has trouble with math.
= Vivian has problems with math.
（薇薇安的数学很不好。）
注意:
time 在此用法中为可数名词，"a + 形容词 + time"表『一段……的时间』。problem 为可数名词，在此用法中习惯用复数形 problems；trouble 与 difficulty 则为不可数名词，故不可加 -s。

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