英语新闻视频 Gearing up for the Spring Festival

Red couplets, red lanterns, red paper-cuts, red fireworks, red Chinese knots and more – there's even red underwear. But it's not just red that's all around – there are rats, rats and more rats.
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the upcoming Spring Festival heralds¹ the New Year of the Rat, and as the country gets ready for this festive² occasion, a spending binge is taking place.
" The sales volume is the best this month. It goes on till the 30th of lunar calendar. This is best time of the year," says a candy sales girl in a department store in Beijing.
Despite tremendous traffic, and major transportation disruptions brought about by unprecedented³ snowfalls, hundreds of millions of people are all heading home:
The reason for the largest migration⁴ is the tradition of spending the festivities at home.
" Though it is hard to get a ticket back home at this time of the year, but this is a time of family reunion, I have to go home," explained a man from Central China's Henan Province.
Expats in the middle kingdom are also swept up in the festival spirit and many are taken back by the people's devotion to tradition and family.
"Everything is like a fairytale, because you can see the decoration, you can hear the fireworks for about an hour right after the midnight," Olga Stepanova, a young Russian woman, told chinadaily.com.cn.
The Year of the Rat also marks the world's great expectations towards Beijing, the host city of the 2008 summer Olympic Games.
"I wish China in this year to stage the great, great Olympics, and everybody comes to see that," Stepanova added.

1 heralds   

n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要）

参考例句：

• The song of birds heralds the approach of spring. 百鸟齐鸣报春到。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountain. 山雨欲来风满楼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。