【正文】 gifts and chat leisurely.Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was pletely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then es to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.China has 56 ethnic groups. Minorities celebrate their Spring Festival almost the same day as the Han people, and they have different customs.Useful words and expressionsfamily 家庭 spouse 配偶single單身 life span 壽命 marriage life 婚姻生活 bachelor 單身漢spinster 老處女courtship 求愛 lad 少年, 少女 female friend 女性朋友 play house 過家家 play hideandseek 捉迷藏 puppy love初戀friendship 友誼 engagement 訂婚 fianc233。s sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.Many customs acpany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job39。 New Year cake團(tuán)圓飯 family reunion dinner年夜飯 the dinner on New Year39。 gift money。s greetings。 do Spring Festival shopping敬酒 propose a toast燈籠 lantern: a portable light煙花 fireworks爆竹 firecrackers (People scare off evil spirits and ghosts with the loud pop.)舞獅 lion dance (The lion is believed to be able to dispel evil and bring good luck.)舞龍 dragon dance (to expect good weather and good harvests)戲曲 traditional opera雜耍 variety show。 the first month by lunar calendar除夕 New Year39。s Eve。 vaudeville燈謎 riddles written on lanterns燈會(huì) exhibit of lanterns守歲 stayingup拜年 pay New Year39。 New Year39。 money given to children as lunar New Year gift辭舊歲 bid farewell to the old year掃房 spring cleaning。s Eve餃子 Jiaozi。s tears, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the ing New Year. This is called Seeing the New Year in.Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. What39。 未婚夫 fianc233。 Lao Zhang is coining money these few years. Who can ever expect he would be able to make bundles like this! 3. 錢多得花不完have money to burn 老李的錢多得花不完，要不他敢這么揮霍？ Lao Li has money to burn. Otherwise, how could he splash his money about like anything? 4. 錢能生錢money begets money 錢能生錢。 Eating in this restaurant will cost you an arm and a leg. You’ ll have to pay tens of yuan for even a soup of cabbage and beancurd 12. 跟別人比闊keep up with the Joneses 我可不像你，老是和別人比闊 I’m not your sort who like to keep up with the Joneses. 13. 養(yǎng)家糊口bring home the bacon 一個(gè)家里總得有個(gè)養(yǎng)家糊口的人 Some one has to bring home the bacon in the family. 14. 與……私通have an illicit love affair with 據(jù)說那個(gè)法官與一個(gè)電影明星私通。 On the point of their divorce, she demanded on his returning to her all the lot she has brought as her marriage portion. 19. 外快side money 在過去的幾年中老張掙了一大筆外快 Lao Zhang has made a huge sum of side money in the past few years. 20．買得便宜buy something on the cheap 他的那部車買得可真便宜 He bought that car on the cheap. taken to the cleaners 那幫人合伙欺負(fù)他，結(jié)果讓他輸?shù)镁?。可是現(xiàn)在呢？情況可大不一樣了。 His car is certain to fetch a good price at the auction. kossypoo 公園里那些年輕人摟摟抱抱的真讓人看不下去 It’s plain an eyesore seeing those youngsters playing kissypoo in the park. respectable family 他是個(gè)正經(jīng)人家的女孩子，我不相信她會(huì)干出這種事。 It’s said that their marriage is on the rocks. 39．舊情人an old flame 昨天晚上和你一起吃飯的那個(gè)人肯定是你過去的情人 The one you were dinning with last night must be your old flame. up 這次我們裝修房子花了近30，000元。 the same race or same ethnic background。 the millionaire man and the poor man。 by her athletic qualities。 frizzly hair/ glasses/ funny/ monologue pizzaa wine bar。 fell in river/ he dived in and rescued herPart Ⅳ A Valentine story Vocabulary: intrigue, insightful, budding, lapel, provocative, tuck, plump, thrust, uphold, grip, square, saluteB: book。 tolerant smile。 understand and admireAdditional Practice: Dictation 1Town and Country Life in EnglandThere is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others.In a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through the streets in the centre of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks