情境介紹:
Eric: Thank you for inviting me to your house for Kwanzaa.
Anthony: My pleasure. Kwanzaa is important time at the end of December for many African Americans to celebrate our family, community, and African heritage.
Eric: My pleasure as well. I really like the shirt you are wearing today. Does it mean anything in particular?
Anthony: Actually, it’s the pan-African colors of red, black and green. The red stands for the noble blood that unites all people of African ancestry, the black represents the people, and the green is for the rich land of Africa and a positive future.
Eric: Fascinating! What do you usually do during this festival?
Anthony: We abstain from eating meat and try to practice 7 principles, one each day for 7 days. Today is the first day, and the principle is “umoja”, or “unity”. We commemorate the togetherness of family and friends, and that’s why I invited you to dinner.
Eric: Then let me make a toast, “To umoja and good friends”!
Anthony: Well said. Cheers.
Eric: 謝謝你邀請我到你家一起慶祝寬扎節。
Anthony: 這是我的榮幸。12月底的寬扎節對非裔美國人來說是歡慶家庭、族群與非裔傳統的重要時節。
Eric: 能參與也是我的榮幸。我挺喜歡你今天穿的這件上衣。它有什麼特別的意義嗎?
Anthony: 其實,這是代表全非洲的顏色,紅、黑與綠。紅色象徵團結所有非洲族裔的高貴血緣,黑色代表
人民,而綠色則是非洲豐饒的土地以及前景看好的未來。
Eric: 太有趣了!你們通常怎麼度過這個節慶呢?
Anthony: 我們禁食肉類且會實踐七大傳統,7天內一天一個原則!今天是第一天,第一個原則是「烏摩加」,也就是「團結」。我們慶祝家庭和朋友間的團結友愛,所以才邀請你來晚餐呀。
Eric: 那麼讓我來舉杯慶祝,「敬烏摩加與好朋友」!
Anthony: 說得好。乾杯。
實用慣用語:
12月是個充滿喜慶的時節。除了廣為人知的(well-known)耶誕節以外,還有猶太人(Jewish people)的光明節(Hanukkah)以及本期介紹的寬扎節呢!一起來看看Eric和Anthony過寬扎節使用了哪些實用詞彙。
本月加值:
時光飛逝(Time flies),我們又到了2015年的尾聲。你是不是跟Eric一樣在今年獲得了許多美好回憶呢?回顧(reflect)學習或生活歷程時,可能會需要用到哪些表達呢?就讓我們從這一期的本月加值來看看怎麼說!
學習小指南:
你最喜歡的節日是什麼呢?是耶誕節還是農曆新年?是萬聖節還是清明節(Tomb Sweeping Day)? 你知道這世界上還有哪些有特色或是稀奇古怪的(eccentric)節日嗎?LTTC幫助您學習外語更有效率,趕快上LTTC課程網。