第一题
每年农历七月初七是中国的情人节(Valentine’SDay)。关于这个节日有一个美丽的传说：王母娘娘(the Queen ofHeaven)最年幼的女儿“织女”爱上了人间的男子“牛郎”，王母反对仙女与凡人相爱，就用银河(Milky Way)将他们隔开。但牛郎和织女的爱情感动了人间的喜鹊(magpie)，每年七月初七这一天，喜鹊会搭起一座鹊桥让这对情侣相见。而如今在这一天，年轻的`女子常在月下向织女祈祷，期望得到美满的姻缘。
Chinese Valentine's Day
The seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is Chinese Valentine's Day.
There is a beautiful legend about this festival: Zhi Nu the youngest daughter of the Queen of Heaven, fell in love with Niu Lang, a cowherd on earth. Zhi Nu's mother was opposed to the love between a fairy and a human, so she separated the two lovers with the Milky Way.
However, their love story moved the magpies on earth. Those magpies gather together annually on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month to form a "magpie bridge", so that the couple can meet each other once in a year. Today, on this day, young girls often pray to Zhi Nü in the moonlight, wishing for a happy marriage.
第二题
对联(Chinese couplet)也叫“对子”，由两句形式相通、内容相连的语句组成。第一部分称作“上联”，贴在右侧，第二部分，即“下联”则贴在左侧。两行字不仅字数要一致，而且相同位置上的字必须对仗工整(antithetic in form)，平仄协调(harmonious in tone)。按用途不同，对联可以分为很多种，在新年贴的对联也叫“春联”，表达了人们的美好祝福与愿望，也为新年增添了节日气氛。
The Chinese Couplet
The Chinese couplet is also called "Duizi". It consists of two sentences which are identical in form and interrelated in meaning. The first line is called "upper couplet", which is put up or hung on the right side, and the other is called "lower couplet", which is placed on the left side. Not only are the two lines required to have an equal number of characters, the words stand in the same position in each of the two sentences must be antithetic in form and harmonious in tone. For different purposes, there are different couplets. The couplet for the Spring Festival is called "Chunlian", which conveys the blessing and good wishes of the people and enhances the festive atmosphere of the New Year, too.
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