士林英文補習班｜端午節、粽子、划龍舟，如何用英文向外國朋友介紹？ @ TOEIC,TOEFL,IELTS,全民英檢,SAT,菁英英日語-士林分校

The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history. It is one of the most important Chinese festivals, the other two being the Autumn Moon Festival and Chinese New Year.

在中國，端午節是一個值得慶祝的重大節日，有著悠久的歷史典故，端午節也是三大重要節慶之一，其他分別為中秋節和農曆新年。

The origin of this summer festival centers around a scholarly government official named Chu Yuan. He was a good and respected man, but because of the misdeeds of jealous rivals he eventually fell into disfavor in the emperor's court. Unable to regain the respect of the emperor, in his sorrow Chu Yuan threw himself into the Mi Lo River.

而端午節的由來是古代有一位博學多聞的官吏屈原，他是一位愛民而且又受到尊崇的官吏，但是由於受到一充滿嫉妒的官吏所陷害，從此屈原在朝廷中被皇帝所冷落。而由於無法獲得重視，屈原在憂鬱的情況下投汨羅江自盡。

Because of their admiration for Chu Yuan, the local people living adjacent to the Mi Lo River rushed into their boats to search for him while throwing rice into the waters to appease the river dragons. Although they were unable to find Chu Yuan, their efforts are still commemorated today during the Dragon Boat Festival.

由於屈原受到居民的愛戴，大家紛紛的划船在江內尋找屈原，並且將米丟入汨羅江中，以平息汨羅江中的龍。雖然他們當時並沒有找到屈原，但是他們的行為，直到今天在端午節的時候，仍然被人們傳頌紀念著。

(資料來源http://goo.gl/WORT2l)

端午節的習俗

The celebration is a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year. It is done so by different practices such as hanging healthy herbs on the front door, drinking nutritious concoctions, and displaying portraits of evil's nemesis, Chung Kuei. If one manages to stand an egg on its end at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year will be a lucky one.

在端午節舉行慶祝活動是為了趨吉避凶，祈求整年避免疾病以及邪惡的入侵。與眾不同的做法，每戶人家將草藥掛在門前，並且喝營養的雄黃酒，還有著名的鍾馗畫像，甚至還有一個傳聞，若能在當天中午12點將蛋立起，那麼隔一年他將會是個幸運的人。

你要如何用英語表達「粽子」？

「粽子」的英語說法，可用「rice dumpling」兩字帶過。在西方世界裡，dumpling原是指包有水果餡的一種點心，後來因為中式食物裡很多都是麵糊裡包有內餡，所以只要是有含餡的中式食物，都可以用「dumpling」一以概之，例如水餃、芝麻湯圓、粽子、餡餅、包子、小籠包、鍋貼、燒賣、水晶餃等諸般種種。

粽子因為是用糯米所包，所以亦可用「rice dumpling」加以小小區別。至於糯米、紫米、在來米、蓬萊米、知本米要用何種學名的「rice」，這大概對外國人沒有那麼重要，所以不妨用「rice」表示就可以了！

如果你想要表達的更清楚一點，可以這麼說：

steamed sticky rice dumpling(s) wrapped in / with bamboo leaves

(用竹葉包的，糯米做的，蒸的包餡食物)

(資料參考http://www.ettoday.net/)