美国文化脱口秀 第724期:元宵节英语叫什么

元宵节是春节年俗中最后一个重要节日，赏花灯，猜灯谜，吃元宵……今天Jenny和Adam要和你分享元宵节相关的英语。

01.Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival or the Spring Lantern Festival is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar. Usually falling in February or early March on the Gregorian calendar, it marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations.

中国的传统节日在英文中通常都叫做festival：

Lantern Festival: 元宵节

Spring Festival: 春节

Dragon Boat Festival: 端午节

Mid Autumn Festival: 中秋节

阴历正月十五是中国的元宵节：

Lunar: 月亮的，阴历的

Solar: 太阳的

The lunar calendar: 阴历

但人们通常不会把阳历称为“solar calendar” ✘，正确的说法是：

The Gregorian calendar: /ɡrɪˌɡɔːr.i.ən/ 公历，阳历 ✔

It had become a festival with great significance. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns.

传统节日对于每一个中国人来说都有重大意义，“有意义”除了meaningful也可以用 significant/significance 来表达：

It is significant

It has great significance

这个词大家最熟悉的意思是“重要的”，但它在形容customs(风俗)和heritage(传统)的深远意义时也经常被使用。

各种各样精彩的灯谜是元宵节不可缺少的环节：

Riddles: 灯谜

“猜”灯谜的英语可不是“guess”riddles ✘，正确说法是：

Solve riddles: 猜灯谜 ✔

02.Tangyuan

Tangyuan, literally: "soup ball" is a Chinese dessert made from glutinous rice flour mixed with a small amount of water to form balls and then either cooked and served in boiling water with fermented glutinous rice, or sweet syrup (sweet ginger syrup, for example), or deep fried.

Glutinous rice: 糯米，或者也可以说sticky rice。

Tangyuan can be either small or large, and filled or unfilled. They are traditionally eaten during Yuanxiao or the Lantern Festival, but also served as a dessert on Chinese wedding day, Winter Solstice Festival, and any occasions such as family reunion, because of a homophone for union.

汤圆有各种不同的馅料，点心里的馅料：

Filling: 馅

感恩节火鸡肚子里的馅料：

Stuffing: 填充物，馅

Filling也可以做形容词，表示某个东西吃完后让人感觉很饱：

It is very filling.

除了元宵节，一些地区的人们也会在冬至端上一碗汤圆：

Winter Solstice: 冬至

Summer Solstice: 夏至

汤圆的发音和“团圆”相似，还蕴含着家人团聚，和睦美满之意：

Homophone: 同音词(读音相同，意义不同)

03.Different fillings

甜味汤圆：

Chocolate paste: 巧克力馅

Fruit preserves: 水果馅

Black sesame paste: 黑芝麻馅

Red bean paste: 红豆沙

Taro paste: 香芋馅

Crushed peanuts: 花生碎

还有一种没有馅料的小汤圆，通常配上醪糟食用：

Fermented glutinous rice: 醪糟，酒酿

Unfilled tangyuan are served as part of a sweet dessert soup: 糖水中配以无馅料的小汤圆

用salty形容食物，就表示“太咸了，很难吃”。如果只是想表明食物是“咸味的”，更好的词是：

Savory: 咸味的

Savory tangyuan: 咸味汤圆

上海的鲜肉汤圆，客家汤圆都是别具风味的咸汤圆：

Shanghai: 上海

Hakka: 客家