A Happy Spring Festival

Ofall our holidays the Spring Festival is the most important to us Chinese. Everyone gets about one week off work for it. The Spring Festival is mainly a family celebration. No matter how far away from home a person is， he will always try to get home in time to gather together.

　　Several days before this new lunar year， my brother and I cleaned our rooms and decorated them. The old folk say that everything must be new and clean for the Spring Festival so that the new year will bring happiness and good luck.

　　On the 30th of the December of the lunar year， my father told me to write a new year couplets （對聯）， my mother was busy with cooking for lunch [new year couplets. My mother was busy cooking for lunch] （1）。 On the table were all kinds of dishes at noon. What an enormous and delicious dinner！ I have never tasted it. [I had never tasted such a nice dinner.] （2） Because of happiness， I drank with Father at dinner.

　　That is the first time I drank. [That was the first time I had ever drunk，] （3） you know. I was flashed [My face turned red] （4） after only one cup of wine. Then my father said， “We are living a happy life because of the wise policy of our Party.”

　　That night we watched the special Spring Festival programmes on TV to see the new year in. The programmes were so wonderful that we burst into laughter now and then. When the clock struck midnight， the noise of the firecrackers outside became deafing [deafening] （5）。 Father opened the door and said， “Let's welcome in big fortune！”

　　I was very excited the next morning and woke up earlier than ever. Mother and Father were making jiaozi. So I helped them with that. When several bowls of jiaozi were ready and put on the table， my father lit the incense （香） on the table. Then my brother tied some firecrackers to a pole and went outside. I picked up a stick which was still burning in the stove to light them. With loud bangs the firecrackers went off. With loud bangs we greeted the first day of the new lunar year.

　　What a happy Spring Festival I had！

　　We hoped that the loud bangs would drive away everything unpleasant in the past and bring us greater happiness and luck in the new year.

　　常州 李秀玉

　　評語

　　春節是我國各族人民最重要的節日。本文描述了億萬家庭中普通一家的過節情景，“我第一次喝酒”、“看春節電眡節目”、“父親開門迎財神”、“點香後喫餃子”、“與兄弟一起放鞭砲” 等細節選擇得很典型，使文章充滿了節慶的氣氛，特別是最後一句表達了“辤舊迎新”的主題。文章中某些語言上的不足之処點評脩改如下：

　　（1）couplets是複數，前麪不定冠詞a應去掉。另外，mymother…應該另起一句。be busy with後接名詞，而“be busy 動名詞”時，動名詞前不用介詞with.

　　（2）原句時態用錯了。

　　（3）在“主 be the 形容詞級或序數詞 名詞 定語從句”的句型中，定語從句一般用完成時態。前麪be用is，則定語從句用現在完成時；be用過去式，則定語從句用過去完成時。另外，定語從句中，常根據習慣，加上副詞ever，表示強調，如：

　　It is the most beautiful flower I have ever seen.

　　That was the second time I had ever heard this song.

　　（4）原句flash含義不清，故根據上下文改之。

　　（5）原文誤將deaf用作動詞，搆成現在分詞，應改爲動詞deafen的現在分詞deafening（震耳欲聾）。