Level/难度等级 : Level 4 CEFR ,C1,C2;国内:大学 词汇：503个
Reading time/阅读时间：2 分钟
Speaking time/朗读时间:3分52秒
1 fifth
2 Qu Yuan
3 1980
Dragon Boat Festival
端午节
The Dragon Boat Festival is a yearly holiday in the People’s Republic of China.
端午节是中华人民共和国一年一度的节日。
It celebrates Qu Yuan, a writer and a government leader who lived a long time ago and died because he loved his country very much.
端午节是为了纪念屈原。 屈原是古代的一个作家和官员，因忠于自己的国家而以身殉国。
The Dragon Boat Festival is always on the 5th day of the 5th month of China’s old calendar, but—because that calendar is based on changes in the moon and not the sun—it is not always on the same day of the new calendar.
端午节总是在中国旧历法的五月初五，但 旧历法是基于月亮的变化而不是太阳的变化，所以它并不总是在新历法的同一天。
The old calendar adds a 13th month when it is very different from the seasons, though, so the Dragon Boat Festival is always in late spring.
然而，旧历法增加了第13个月，因为它与季节有很大的不同，所以端午节总是在晚春。
In Chinese, the Dragon Boat Festival is usually called Duānwǔ Jié, which means the “Holiday of Welcoming the Seventh”.
在中文里，端午节通常被称为duāNWǔJié，意思是“迎七的节日”。
This name is based on the old calendar, which used a group of 12 names as a kind of week.
这个名字是以旧历法为基础的，旧历法使用了一组12个名字作为一周的一种。
Chinese people write it 端午節 in traditional characters and 端午节 in simplified characters.
在中国，the Dragon Boat Festival 用繁体字表达是“端午節”，用简体字是“端午节”。
A long time ago in China, this holiday may have celebrated the harvest of “winter wheat” or dragon gods with power over rivers and seas.
在很久以前的中国，这个节日可能是为了庆祝“冬麦”或掌管江海的龙神的丰收。
By the time of Sima Qian, an important writer of history who lived around 100 bc, different people used the festival to remember Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu, or Cao E. Today, most Chinese people are taught that the holiday remembers Qu Yuan.
到了公元前100年左右的司马迁时代，不同的人用这个节日来纪念屈原、伍子胥或曹娥。现在，大多数人认为这个节日是为了纪念屈原。
Qu Yuan was an important writer of poems who lived around 300 bc.
屈原是生活在公元前300年左右的一位重要的诗歌作家。
He lived at a time when the government of China was very weak and all its different parts began to say they were different countries.
他生活在中国即将实现大一统的前夕，是中国历史上极为动荡的战国时代。
Qu Yuan’s part was called Chu, and its king Xiong Huai was so powerful that he controlled Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and most of the places around them.
屈原是楚国人，国王熊槐实力强大，控制着湖北，湖南，江西和周围的大部分地方。
King Huai listened to other leaders who said bad things about Qu Yuan and made him move to the countryside twice.
怀王听了其他领导人说屈原的坏话，两次让他搬到乡下去。
King Huai also made other mistakes that also hurt Chu.
怀王还犯了其他错误，也伤害了楚国。
The second time that Qu Yuan was sent away, he wrote a long poem about his sadness and then killed himself by walking into the Miluo River with a heavy stone.
屈原第二次被送走时，他写了一首长诗诉说自己的悲伤，然后抱着一块沉重的石头跳进汨罗江自杀了。
People don’t agree about exactly why he did this but most think it was because of sadness for his country or a last try to make his king pay attention to his many mistakes.
人们对他这样做的确切原因并不一致，但大多数人认为这是因为对他的国家感到悲伤，或是最后一次尝试 让国王注意到失误之处。
The Dragon Boat Festival was one of four traditional Chinese holidays.
端午节是中国四个传统节日之一。
Since 2008, it has been a national holiday.
自2008年以来，这一天一直是全国性的节日。
All over China, people make and eat little pyramids of sticky rice called zongzis to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.
在中国各地，人们制作和食用被称为粽子的金字塔状糯米，以庆祝端午节。
In southern China, some people also race dragon boats in rivers or in the sea.
在中国南方，一些人还在江河或大海中赛龙舟。
Both traditions are said to have started when local people ran to the Miluo River to throw zongzis around Qu Yuan’s body to protect it from fish and dragons.
据说这两个传统都始于当地人跑到麋罗河把粽子扔在屈原的身体上，以保护它不受鱼和龙的伤害。
There are also some older traditions to get ready for the Chinese summer, like drinking rice wine with pesticides to avoid snakes and mosquitos.
还有一些古老的传统。比如喝雄黄酒来避开蛇和蚊子，为夏天做好准备 。
These are less common today.
这些在今天已经不那么常见了。