圣誕節傳統習俗英語故事：為何要戴紙帽子 （中英對照）
All over Britain on Christmas Day, families can be found sitting around their dining tables enjoying a traditional lunch of roast turkey with all the trimmings - and all, regardless of age, wearing coloured paper hats. It is rumoured that even the Queen wears her paper hat over lunch!
圣誕節當天，全英國的家庭都會坐在餐桌前，吃一頓傳統的圣誕大餐，塞滿了各種餡料的烤火雞。無論年齡老幼，所有人都會在頭上戴一頂彩色紙做成的紙帽子。據說，就連伊莉莎白女王也會戴紙帽子哦！
So why this quaint tradition? Where do these paper hats come from? The answer is the Christmas Cracker.
那為什么會有這個古怪的傳統呢？戴紙帽子的傳統來源于哪里？答案就在另一項圣誕傳統活動——圣誕拉炮！
A Christmas Cracker is a cardboard paper tube, wrapped in brightly coloured paper and twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that react with friction so that when the cracker is pulled apart by two people, the cracker makes a bang.
圣誕拉炮是用硬紙板做的紙筒，再用色彩鮮艷的彩紙包裹在外面，兩端擰緊。在拉炮里會有一個爆竹，當兩個人拉動拉炮兩端時，拉炮里的兩條浸漬紙就會發生摩擦，發出“嘣”的響聲。
Inside the cracker there is a paper crown made from tissue paper, a motto or joke on a slip of paper and a little gift.
拉炮里會裝有紙做的皇冠、寫在紙上的名言或笑話，還會有一些小禮物。
Christmas crackers are a British tradition dating back to Victorian times when in the early 1850s, London confectioner Tom Smith started adding a motto to his sugared almond bonbons which he sold wrapped in a twisted paper package.
圣誕拉炮成為英國傳統的歷史可以追溯到維多利亞時期，約在19世紀50年代早期，倫敦的一個糖果商湯姆-史密斯把寫有名言的紙片放在了他售賣的糖果包裝里，包裝方式就是在糖果外用紙將兩頭擰緊。
The paper hat was added to the cracker in the early 1900s. The cracker was soon adopted as a traditional festive custom and today virtually every household has at least one box of crackers to pull over Christmas.
到了20世紀初，紙帽子也被放到了圣誕拉炮里。很快，拉炮就成了英國人過圣誕節的傳統習俗。現在，所有的英國家庭至少都會準備一盒拉炮留到圣誕節時來拉響。
【精讀筆記：】
1.traditional[tr?'d??(?)n(?)l]adj. 傳統的
eg：Traditional teaching methods sometimes only succeeded in putting students off learning.傳統的教學方法有時只會使學生們厭學。
2.cardboard['kɑ?db??d] n. [紙] 硬紙板
eg：Paper folds more easily than cardboard.紙較紙板易于折疊。
3.package ['pæk?d?] n. 包裹
eg：tore open the package.我撕開了那個包裹。
4.custom ['k?st?m] n.風俗
eg：as a traditional festive custom作為一個傳統節日習俗。
12月23日《世界上最遙遠的距離》
學習筆記回顧：
1.distance ['d?st(?)ns] n. 距離vt. 疏遠
eg：Clough felt he'd become too distanced from his fans.克拉夫覺得他變得太疏遠他的仰慕者們。
2.resist [r?'z?st] n. [助劑] 抗蝕劑vt. 抵抗
eg：Congress should resist the temptation to try quick economic fixes.國會應該抗拒嘗試快速經濟調整的誘惑。
3.yearning ['j??n??]n. 渴望
eg：He always had a yearning to be a schoolteacher.
他一直渴望當一名教師。
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