新西兰英语 541 Christmas events

 　　Christchurch and Dunedin have their Santa parade tomorrow. Wellington and Auckland had their Santa parades in November – 13th for Wellington and 27th for Auckland. It was good weather for both parades. Crowds of people lined the streets to watch the parade.

　　Santa parades are especially for children. There are usually a large number of floats moving slowly on trucks. Often they are nursery¹ rhyme figures like Humpty Dumpty or Walt Disney figures like Mickey Mouse. There are always bands playing music and clowns running beside the floats but, most importantly, the last float is always Santa Claus and his reindeer².

　　Christchurch had a wonderful outdoor concert last weekend called Christmas in the Park. Auckland will have theirs on December 10th. Wellington has Carols by Candlelight in Waitangi Park on December 14th where there will be “a rainbow as wide as the harbour”.

　　Every town and city now has Christmas decorations on their streets and some bigger towns have a large Christmas tree in a central place.

　　Two notes about the text

　　It is common to write “13th” but say “the 13th”.

　　Quotation³ marks around “a rainbow as wide as the harbour”.

　　show that someone said these words.

　　Verb Tenses

　　It is common to use present tense to mean a future plan e.g. have their parade tomorrow; has … on December 14th. It is possible to use “will have” also.

　　Vocabulary

　　To line the street means to stand on the side on the street, often behind a rope.

　　A float is a decorated stage which moves on wheels. Characters dress in costumes and usually wave to the crowds.

　　‘Figures’ has many meanings. Here it means characters, people.

　　Carols are Christmas songs. The most famous is Silent Night.

　　Questions

　　Although Christmas is a religious time for Christians⁵, many people who are not Christian⁴ enjoy Christmas. Do you think this is right?

　　Christmas decorations and events are not really free. Sometimes they are sponsored⁶ by a big company but usually the city or town pays for them from our rates (tax on homes). Are you happy for your rates to be used for these things?

1 nursery   

n.托儿所；苗圃

参考例句：

• They have decided to start up a nursery in the factory.他们已决定要在工厂里开办一个托儿所。
• Her company ran its own workplace nursery.她的公司开办了内部的托儿所。

2 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

3 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

6 sponsored   

v.赞助( sponsor的过去式和过去分词)；资助（某人的培训或教育）；为慈善活动捐资；发起，倡议adj.赞助的；发起的

参考例句：

• The exhibition was sponsored by the Society of Culture. 这个展览会是由文化学会主办的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The company sponsored several TV programs. 这家公司赞助了几个电视节目。 来自《简明英汉词典》