春节期间人们通常猛吃畅饮。春节的食物比较讲究，除了常见的海鲜、家禽和肉类之外，人们还要按各自的地方习俗烹制一些传统菜肴。因为春节标志着新年的第一天，所以第一顿饭是相当重要的。饺子、汤圆、年糕和八宝饭是过年时家家户户必不可少的吉祥食品。“年糕”这个词里的“糕”字与“高”谐音，寓意来年“节节高”。香甜的汤圆则是合家团圆的象征。
春节期间的娱乐活动多种多样，丰富多彩。耍龙灯和舞狮子是春节期间的传统项目。还有一种至今仍受人欢迎的传统表演活动，叫踩高跷。根据记载，中国人的祖先开始使用高跷是为了从树上采集水果。如今，熟练的高跷表演者能够在高跷上展示惊人的技艺，表演高难度的动作。
Customarily, lavishly consuming food and drink is a major activity during the Spring Festival. People are usually particular about their food. In addition to the popular seafood, poultry and meat, regional custom dictates that traditional favorites should be prepared and consumed. Since the festival marks the first day of a brand new year, the first meal is rather important. Such foods as jiaozi (boiled dumplings), tangyuan (soup of small rice balls cooked with fillings), niangao (New Year cake, thick steamed pudding of glutinous rice flour) and babaofan (steamed sweet glutinous rice pudding) are signs of good luck and indispensable in every household. The Chinese character gao in the word niangao is homonymous with the word "tall", suggesting "growing up and prospering" in the new year, and the round sweet dumpling is a symbol of family reunion.
The recreational activities during the Spring Festival are varied and colorful. The Dragon Dance and Lion Dance are traditionally performed during the festival. Walking on stilts is another traditional performance event popular in China. According to the archives, Chinese ancestors began using stilts to help them gather fruits from trees. Today's skillful performers can perform truly amazing feats and extremely difficult movements on stilts.
现在，随着生活水平的不断提高，人们采用了新的方式庆祝新年。但不管庆祝方式怎么变，春节的精华不会变，那就是为了祈求新年吉祥如意，家家户户都会打扫得干干净净，门上都会贴上对联，人人穿上新衣裳，拿出最精美的食物，团聚在一起，互道吉利，表示祝贺。最重要的是，春节是一个合家欢聚的日子，出门在外的人总要想方设法在除夕夜到来之前赶回家，吃上一年中最重要的一顿饭——“团圆饭”。
从传统意义上说，春节以元宵节为终结日。每年农历正月十五的元宵节又被称之为“灯节”，自古以来就是展览和观赏花灯的盛大节日。这一节日正如宋词所描写的那样：“鱼灯万里耀长空，闹灯元宵处处同。顶马狮龙人物好，街歌巷舞尽儿童。”
我今天简要介绍了一下中国的传统节日，希望各位朋友有机会去亲身体验一下我国传统节日的欢乐气氛。
Nowadays, with the improvement of living standards, people have taken up new ways to celebrate the traditional Chinese New year. No matter what changes there might be, the traditional highlights of the Spring Festival will remain the same: hoping for a propitious and happy new year, each family will clean up the house and put up an antithetical couplet on each side of the door. Dressed up in their best, people will get together, treat each other to the most delicious foods and exchange auspicious greetings. Most important of all, the Spring Festival is the occasion for a family reunion. People away from home for various reasons will always try their best to come back home before the New Year's Eve for the family reunion dinner, the most important meal of the year.
Traditionally, the Spring Festival season ends with the Lantern Festival which falls on the 15h of the first lunar month. The Lantern Festival has been the great occasion to display and watch lanterns since antiquity. A poet of the Song Dynasty wrote these lines, "The sky is ablaze with myriads of fish-shaped lanterns. It is fun everywhere on the Lantern Festival. Lanterns in shape of horse, lion, dragon and human figure are all attractive. Streets and lanes are packed with singing and dancing children."
I have given a brief introduction of traditional Chinese festivals. I sincerely hope that you have the chance to experience for yourself the happy festival atmosphere in China.
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