編者按：今天是臘八節(jié)了，你知道臘八節(jié)用英語怎么說嗎?其實(shí)，臘八的英文就是漢語拼音Laba，也譯作the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month。

　　Laba Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It’s a day for celebrating harvest, offering sacrifices to ancestors, and worshiping gods. But above all, it is a day for cooking Laba Congee, a hodgepodge of grains, beans and dried fruits used to invoke peace and good fortune.

　　A hodgepodge (/'hɒdʒpɒdʒ/) is an untidy mixture of different types of things.

　　(INFORMAL) (mainly AM; in BRIT usually use hotch-potch) ; also hodge-podge.

　　...a hodgepodge of maps, small tools, and notebooks.

　　= jumble

　　農(nóng)歷十二月初八是中國的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日——臘八節(jié)，在這一天人們慶祝豐收、祭祀祖先、拜神。最重要的是，在這一天人們要做由各種谷物、豆類和干果熬成的臘八粥以祈求來年和平及好運(yùn)。

　　Chinese people believe that eating congee (porridge made from rice) during Laba festival will bring good luck. Laba Congee is infused with Chinese people’s beautiful expectations of a happy life.

　　中國人相信臘八節(jié)喝臘八粥會帶來好運(yùn)，臘八粥充滿著中國人民對幸福生活的美麗期望。

　　Folktales abound as to the origins of eating congee during Laba Festival. According to the most famous one, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang (reigned 1368-1399), used to herd cattle for a rich man. One day, his carelessness caused a leg of one of the cows to be broken. The rich man was so angry that he locked up the culprit in a small room and didn’t allow food to be given to him. After some time, the famished Zhu Yuanzhang found in a corner of the room a rat hole that contained a supply of stolen red beans, rice, red dates and other produce. These he boiled into congee, on which he feasted voluptuously. Because that day was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang named the congee Laba Congee.

　　關(guān)于臘八節(jié)喝粥的起源，民間故事比比皆是。最著名的一個,明朝的開國皇帝朱元璋(1368 - 1399年在位)，小時候給財主放牛，因牛腿摔斷被財主關(guān)在一間屋子里，不給他飯吃，過了一段時間，快要餓死的朱元璋在屋子的角落里發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個老鼠洞，從中挖掘出紅豆、大米、紅棗等各種糧食，煮成粥食用，覺得非常香甜。因?yàn)檫@一天是農(nóng)歷的十二月八日,皇帝朱元璋將它命名為臘八粥。

　　美味的臘八粥(Laba Congee; Laba porridge)

　　臘八這一天有吃臘八粥的習(xí)俗，臘八粥也叫七寶五味粥。我國喝臘八粥的歷史，已有一千多年。最早開始于宋代。每逢臘八這一天，不論是朝廷、官府、寺院還是黎民百姓家都要做臘八粥。到了清朝，喝臘八粥的風(fēng)俗更是盛行。在宮廷，皇帝、皇后、皇子等都要向文武大臣、侍從宮女賜臘八粥，并向各個寺院發(fā)放米、果等供僧侶食用。在民間，家家戶戶也要做臘八粥，祭祀祖先;同時，合家團(tuán)聚在一起食用，饋贈親朋好友。

　　公眾號：英語學(xué)習(xí)

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