Official Holidays 节假日
Feifei: 大家好， 我是冯菲菲。欢迎收听英国问答Ask About Britain, 我们在这个节目中专门回答有关英国文化习俗的各种问题。今天和我在一起的是Helen.
Helen: Hello, everyone. Now let’s get started. Our question today is from Anson Chan.
Feifei: Anson 是来自广东的一位朋友，他问我们除了圣诞节之外，英国人还过哪些节日？
Helen: What are other festivals in Britain besides the biggest one, Christmas? And how do people celebrate them?
Feifei: 那先让我们听听普通英国人怎么说吧。
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We have Easter which is normally in April or March. But apart from that, we don’t have many festivals.
So we have Easter, that’s quite a big thing. So we do is buy chocolate Easter eggs, for each other and there’s an Easter bunny, so you have the Easter bunny comes along and hides eggs in the garden and you have hunts and things like that.
Feifei: 对很多人来说，除了圣诞节之外，另一个比较大的节日就是每年三月或者四月份的复活节Easter.
Helen: Easter is usually in March or April. We get a bank holiday on either side of the weekend. So that’s four days off in a row.
Feifei: Bank holiday 公众假期。从周五开始放假，一共4 天，所以很多人都借此机会外出旅游， take a mini break.
Helen: It’s also a popular time for chocolate gifts. In the shops you’ll see lots of chocolate eggs or chocolate bunnies on sale.
Feifei: 对了，这个节日对小朋友们来说很有吸引力，因为他们会得到很多装有巧克力蛋或者巧克力兔子的礼物。平时兔子的英文说法是rabbit, 不过bunny 也是兔子的意思，听起来很可爱是不是？
Helen: Yes, Easter bunnies are usually very cute and delicious to eat too.
Feifei: 很多家庭也借这个长假一起聚聚，有孩子的家庭可能会搞些活动，比如把巧克力蛋藏在花园里，然后让孩子们去找。
Helen: That’s the Easter egg hunt on the Sunday of the long weekend.
Feifei: 这就是猎蛋游戏。不过吃太多巧克力会闹肚子的。
Helen: There are lots of festivals we have in the UK and they are celebrated too. One of them is Pancake Day in February.
Feifei: Pancake 就是薄煎饼。在2 月下旬有一天会被定为煎饼日。虽然不放假，但是很多人都会借此机会吃一顿香喷喷的薄饼。
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I love the ordinary ones with just lemon, but I do like it when you have a little bit of ice cream on them, particularly if it’s hot and melting, give you that nice cosy feeling.
Helen: Sounds nice. Plain pancakes with a bit of lemon juice and sugar. Andy also likes to have a little bit of ice cream on his pancakes.
Feifei: Pancakes 里面可以包各种各样的馅儿，甜的，咸的都可以。最传统吃法的就是撒点糖和柠檬汁，趁热吃才香呢。
Helen: And Andy can finish six pancakes in one go.
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And obviously as you can tell, I’m someone who looks after my body, so about six.
Feifei: Andy 可真能吃，一顿能干掉6 个煎薄饼。
Helen: Oh dear, can you hear my stomach grumbling? I’d do anything for a pancake now.
Feifei: Hold on, we haven’t talked about the other festivals yet.
Helen: That’s right, Here Stuart talks about special days for England, Scotland and Wales.
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We don't’ have national holidays, but we have St Georges Day which is England, St Andrews day which is Scotland, and St David’s day which is Wales, They’re not really celebrated, there’re no national holidays, but people just like to recognize them and to show support for their countries.
Feifei: Stuart 告诉我们虽然英国没有类似国庆这样的节日，但是英格兰，苏格兰，威尔士都有自己的民族节日。
Helen: So St Georges’ Day is in England, it’s on the 23rd of April.
Feifei: 英格兰有圣乔治日在每年的4 月23 号。
Helen: St Andrew’s Day is in Scotland, that’s on the 30th of November.
Feifei: 苏格兰有圣安德鲁日，是11 月30 号。
Helen: And Wales have St David’s Day on the 1st of March.
Feifei: 威尔士有圣大卫日，是3 月1 日。
Helen: We don’t get official bank holidays for these days, but people do recognise them to show their support for their countries.
Feifei: 庆祝这些民族节日最普遍的方式就是朋友们一起到酒吧里喝一杯。
Helen: Well, I think it’ll be more than one drink, more like a dozen drinks.
Feifei: Are there more big celebrations?
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We have recently adopted Halloween, which is a very US celebration.
With Halloween, people dress up as ghosts and witches, it’s an old ceremony to do with All Saints Day and to do with driving out evil spirits, so people dress up as ghosts and they go around and play tricks on people.
Feifei: 10 月31 是Halloween 万圣节，英国这几年也开始庆祝这个和驱散妖魔鬼怪有关的节日。
Helen: Many kids like to dress up as ghosts and witches and go around people’s houses. They’ll ask trick or treat.
Feifei: Trick or treat 是万圣节的一个习俗，孩子们借此机会向别人要糖吃，如果不给他们糖，他们就会制造一系列恶作剧play tricks on people.
Helen: Shortly after Halloween, it’s the Bonfire Night on the 5th of November.
Feifei: Bonfire night, 这是英国传统的大篝火节，每年定在11 月5 日晚上。
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Nicola We also have the 5th of November every year is Guy Fawkes night, where years ago, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the houses of Parliament. So every year we have a horrendous celebration of the fact that he failed by a lot of fireworks and burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire, so that’s the most recent one.
Helen: Bonfire night is also known as Guy Fawkes Night. Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the houses of Parliament in 1605 and he failed.
Feifei: 1605年，一个名叫Guy Fawkes 的英国人计划把英国国会给炸掉，blow up就是引起爆炸，结果阴谋被揭露，失败了。后来为了纪念英国国会的存在，每年11 月5日晚上英国很多地方都会燃起篝火，烧掉Guy Fawkes的模拟像。
Helen: An effigy of someone means a cardboard copy of someone. Nowadays, Bonfire night is a chance for people to get together and have fun on a cold winter night.
Feifei: 好了，今天对英国节日的解释就要结束了。
Helen: There are lots of other festivals in the UK people celebrate, like Valentines Day, Mother’s Day and many others. Unfortunately we don’t have time to cover all of them.
Feifei: 希望大家有机会能登陆我们的网站www.bbcukchina.com, 那里有更多的英语节目可以下载。
Helen: Thanks for listening and see you next time.
Feifei: 我们下次节目再见。
词汇学习：
bunny 兔子
bank holiday 公休假日
pancake 煎薄饼
cosy 惬意的
Halloween 万圣节
ghost 鬼，幽灵
witch 巫婆
evil spirit 邪恶鬼魂
horrendous 可怕的
effigy 模拟像