The Legend of \"Nian\" “年”的傳說

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新年到了！親愛的小朋友，你知道中國新年的來歷嗎？為什么過年時要放鞭炮，貼紅對聯呢？Do you know the legend of “Nian”？ Let’s read the story.

There is a monster（怪獸）.

Everyone calls it “Nian”.

It has a big horn（觸角）.

It has a large mouth， too.

Its teeth are very sharp（鋒利的）.

At New Year’s Eve（除夕夜）， Nian comes to a village（村莊）.

It eats sheep， pigs， chickens， and even people.

The villagers run into mountains.

One New Year’s Eve， a wise（聰明的）old man comes to the village. He meets an old woman.

Man： Don’t run！ You can scare Nian away（嚇跑）.

Woman： Really？ What can I do？

Man： Cover your house in red and make loud noise（噪音）.

So the old woman stays in her house.

She wants to scare Nian away.

Villagers： Hurry！ Nian is coming. Let’s run.

Woman： No. I’ll stay here.

Villagers： Are you crazy？ The monster will eat you.

Woman： I will scare Nian away.

The old woman covers her house in red paper.

She prepares（準備） many firecrackers（爆竹）.

Nian comes. When the monster sees the red color， it is scared（害怕的）.

The old woman sets off firecrackers.

The noise is loud.

Nian runs away.

The villagers are back. They find（發(fā)現）the old woman is safe（安全的）！

Woman： I scare the monster away.

Villagers： Really？

Woman： Yes. Nian is afraid of loud noise and the red color.

Villagers： You are so great！

The next year， people cover their houses in red， wear red clothes， and hang up（懸掛） red lanterns（燈籠）. They set off firecrackers. From then on（從此之后）， Nian hasn’t come again.

This becomes a tradition（傳統(tǒng)） of China. Chinese people celebrate（慶祝）Lunar（農歷） New Year in this way till today.