用英语说中国春节习俗简单易懂
The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year. Through the evolvement of thousands of years， a series of customs are spreading far and wide.
春节是中国的传统节日，也是一年中最重要的节日。经过数千年的演变，一系列的春节习俗正在向四面八方传承。
1、Sweeping the Dust 扫尘
“Dust” is homophonic with "chen”in Chinese，which means old and past. In this way， "sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life.
In a word， just before the Spring Festival comes， every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.
“尘”与汉语中的“陈”同音，意思是旧的和过去的。所以春节前的“扫尘”，就是要彻底打扫房屋，扫除过去一年的霉运。这种习俗显示了一种良好的愿望，即把旧东西收起来，迎接新的生活。总而言之，就在春节到来之前，每家每户都要彻底打扫，告别旧年，迎来新的一年。
2、Pasting Spring Couplets 贴春联
“The Spring Couplet”， also called "couplet” and "a pair of antithetical phrases”， is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription，usually an auspicious phrase，above the gate.
The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival，every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival.
In the past，the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them， while nowadays， it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.
“春联”，又称“对联”、“一对对立的短语”，这是中国文学的一种特殊形式。春联是由两边门上的两个对句和一个水平的书卷组成的，书卷上有铭文，通常是一个吉祥的短语。贴在门的右边的句子叫做对联的第一行和左边的第二行。在春节前夕，每户人家都要在门上贴用红色纸张写的春联，营造节日的欢腾气氛。在过去，中国人通常用毛笔写他们自己的春联，或者请别人代他们写，而现在，人们在市场上买印刷的春联是很常见的。
3、 Staying Up Late on New Year‘s Eve 守岁
The tradition of staying up late to see New Year in originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year，who was very ferocious. Year always went out from its burrow on New Year’s Eve to devour people. Therefore， on every New Year’s Eve，every household would have supper together.
After dinner，no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together，chatting and emboldening each other. Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is formed. Thus in China， "celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called "passing over the year (guo nian)”。 However，now there are less and less people in cities who will stay up late to see New Year in.
熬夜等待新年的传统起源于一个有趣的民间故事。在古代中国住着一只名叫“年”的怪物，它非常凶猛。新年前夕，新年总是从洞穴里出来，吞噬着人们。因此，每逢除夕，每户人家都要一起吃晚饭。晚饭后，没人敢睡觉，全家人坐在一起聊天，相互壮胆。新年前夕熬夜的习惯逐渐形成。因此，在中国，“春节”也被称为“一年过”。然而，现在城市里越来越少的人会熬夜看新年。
