Take Away English-Bonfire night 焰火之夜

Child with a sparkler

“Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder¹, treason and plot!”

That rhyme is repeated by children in Britain to remember why, every year on 5th November, many British people celebrate Bonfire Night.

They might celebrate at home in their gardens, by building a bonfire and letting off fireworks. Young children like to light sparklers and wave them.

There are also many organised firework displays in public areas – a huge bonfire is built and there will usually be a long firework display with big, colourful fireworks like bangers, rockets, and Catherine wheels.

This festival falls in Autumn when the weather is quite cold, so people watch the fireworks and eat hot food to keep them warm – hot dogs or jacket potatoes for example and you might drink mulled wine or hot chocolate.

So why do British people do this? Well, on November 5th, 1605, a man called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Houses of Parliament with gunpowder.

He wanted to get revenge on the King at that time for his lack of tolerance² towards Catholics. However, the plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes was caught and executed for treason.

It was then that the tradition of Bonfire Night began. People started to have bonfires to celebrate the safety of the King because he wasn’t blown up. November 5th is also known as Guy Fawkes’ Night.

People would burn effigies³ of Guy Fawkes and even today, people make dummies⁴ of Guy Fawkes to burn, which are called ‘the Guy’. Children still wheel their dummies through the streets, knocking on people’s doors and asking for ‘a penny for the Guy’ to earn some money.

The origins of the festival have much less importance today but it remains⁵ a fun and exciting night for children and adults alike. But if you’re lighting⁶ fireworks, then be careful!

GLOSSARY 词汇表
gunpowder 火药 bonfire 篝火 sparklers 萤火棒 hot dogs 热狗 mulled wine 加热的红葡萄酒 Houses of Parliament 议会 lack of 缺少；缺乏 Catholics 天主教徒 executed 被…处决 dummies 傀儡；假人	treason 叛国；背叛 letting off 点燃；释放 firework display 烟花表演 jacket potatoes 带皮烤土豆 blow up 爆炸；炸毁 to get revenge on 对…进行报复 tolerance 忍耐力 plot 密谋；阴谋 effigies 肖像；模拟像 to wheel 用轱辘（车）推着

 

1 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

2 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

3 effigies   

n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• stone effigies in the church 教堂里的石雕像
• On 5 November British children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. 每逢11月5日英国儿童都焚烧盖伊．福克斯的模拟像。 来自辞典例句

4 dummies   

n.仿制品( dummy的名词复数 )；橡皮奶头；笨蛋；假传球

参考例句：

• If he dummies up, just try a little persuasion. 如果他不说话，稍微劝劝他就是了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All the articles in the window are dummies. 橱窗里的全部物品都是仿制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。