12-5 圣诞夜

Christmas Eve

 

Christmas Eve celebrations often outshine those of Christmas itself. In Denmark, Christmas Eve is the biggest occasion of the year. The partying goes on all night, with traditional prune¹ stuffed roast goose, red cabbage, fried pastries², and cinnamon laced rice pudding. The Christmas elves are appeased¹ with offerings of rice pudding, and dishes of seeds are placed outdoors for wild birds. Rumanians serve a myriad⁴ layered cake, said to represent Jesus’ swaddling² clothes. In France, children set out their shoes in hopes that le petit Jesus will fill them during the night with small gifts. Mexicans attend a midnight service called la misa del gallo, “the rooster’s mass,” and sing lullabies³ to Jesus. Norwegians eat lye treated codfish and wash it down with boiled potatoes, rice porridge, gingerbread, and punch. Swedes eat lye? treated codfish, too, and welcome the Christmas elves and the Christmas goat generally held responsible for the distribution of presents. The Swiss wait breathlessly for the Christ child, to arrive with gifts for all in his reindeer⁶? drawn⁷ sleigh. Meanwhile, Czechs eat a soup made of cod⁵ roe⁸ and tempt⁹⁴ each other with tales of a mythical¹⁰ golden pig.

 

注释：

1. appease³ [E5pi:z] vt.（以满足对方要求等让步方式）抚慰

2. swaddling [5swCdliN] n. [常作～s] 襁褓用长布条

3. lullaby [5lQlEbai] n.  摇篮曲，催眠曲

4. tempt [tempt] vt.  吸引，引起……的兴趣

 

圣诞夜

 

圣诞节的庆祝活动常常远不及圣诞夜的庆祝活动那么热闹。在丹麦，圣诞夜是一年中最盛大的节日。持续整夜的派对上，有传统的肚里塞满了李子干的烤鹅、红甘蓝、炸油酥点心和浇上肉桂调味汁的大米布丁。圣诞小精灵会欣然接受人们献上的大米布丁。人们还在门外为野鸟放上一盘盘的种子。罗马尼亚人会准备一种多层蛋糕，据说那代表耶稣襁褓时穿的长布条缠包的衣服。在法国，孩子们将鞋子摆出来，盼望小耶稣会在晚上往里面塞满小礼物。墨西哥人参加一种名为 “公鸡弥撒” 的午夜仪式，给圣婴唱催眠曲。挪威人吃用碱液处理过的鳕鱼，再吃煮土豆、大米稀饭、姜饼，喝潘趣酒以助消化。瑞典人也吃用碱液处理过的鳕鱼，欢迎圣诞小精灵和通常被认为承担分发礼物任务的圣诞山羊。瑞士人则屏住呼吸，等待圣婴乘坐驯鹿拉的雪橇给大家带来礼物。捷克人喝鳕鱼子汤，互相讲关于金猪的神话故事。

 

 

1 prune   

n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除

参考例句：

• Will you prune away the unnecessary adjectives in the passage?把这段文字中不必要的形容词删去好吗？
• It is our job to prune the side branches of these trees.我们的工作就是修剪这些树的侧枝。

2 pastries   

n.面粉制的糕点

参考例句：

• He gave a dry laugh, then sat down and started on the pastries. 杜新箨说着干笑一声，坐下去就吃点心。 来自子夜部分
• Mike: So many! I like Xijiang raisins, beef jerky, and local pastries. 麦克：太多了。我最喜欢吃新疆葡萄干、牛肉干和风味点心。

3 appease   

v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足

参考例句：

• He tried to appease the crying child by giving him candy.他试图给那个啼哭的孩子糖果使他不哭。
• The government tried to appease discontented workers.政府试图安抚不满的工人们。

4 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

5 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

6 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。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

9 tempt   

vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣

参考例句：

• Nothing could tempt him to such a course of action.什么都不能诱使他去那样做。
• The fact that she had become wealthy did not tempt her to alter her frugal way of life.她有钱了，可这丝毫没能让她改变节俭的生活习惯。

10 mythical   

adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的

参考例句：

• Undeniably,he is a man of mythical status.不可否认，他是一个神话般的人物。
• Their wealth is merely mythical.他们的财富完全是虚构的。