英语课程计划-Boxing Day

I think Boxing Day is confusing¹ for people who don’t know much about Christmas. It is a strange name for a holiday. I bet² many people think it is a time when people have a fight and punch³ each other. Well, it’s quite a bit different than that. Boxing Day started hundreds of years ago as a way of helping⁴ poorer people at Christmas. Shopkeepers and craftsmen⁵ used to put a special Christmas box in their store or workshop. Customers and visitors would put money into the box. On the day after Christmas Day, which is December 26th, the shopkeeper emptied the box and shared the money with his workers. So that’s how Boxing Day started. This tradition kind of continues today. Many companies give their workers a Christmas bonus⁶.

I’ve always liked Boxing Day. It’s kind of the same as Christmas Day. It has a nice feel about it and we get to eat Christmas dinner all over again. There are also lots of good programmes and movies on TV. For children, it’s another day to play with all their new toys; and for adults, it’s another day off work – at least in countries where Boxing Day is a national holiday. The biggest difference for me between the two days is that there are no more presents to open on Boxing Day. There is a lot of sport on Boxing Day so many people go to watch a football match or game of rugby. And if you don’t like sport, there are always the Boxing Day sales. You can go shopping and buy all of the things you wanted for Christmas but didn’t get!

1 confusing   

adj.混乱的，令人困惑的

参考例句：

• The instructions on the box are very confusing.盒子上的使用说明含混不清。
• It's very confusing to learn a new language.学习一门新语言是很令人困惑的。

2 bet   

v.打赌，以(与)...打赌；n.赌注，赌金；打赌

参考例句：

• I bet you can't do this puzzle.我敢说，你解决不了这个难题。
• I offered to bet with him.我提出与他打赌。

3 punch   

v.用拳猛击；用打孔机打孔

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He laid his opponent low with a single punch.他一拳猛击便把对手打倒在地。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 craftsmen   

n. 技工

参考例句：

• rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
• The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。

6 bonus   

n.奖金，红利

参考例句：

• The workers expected to share out a year-end bonus.工人们期望年终分红。
• The staff got a a special bonus payment.员工得到一笔特别发放的奖金。