May 31 Flowers of May
In the Philippines,May is a time of in tense festivity.All month,school children assemble bouquets1) and floral2) offerings and take them to church.Meanwhile,girls elected to serve as festival queens parade through the streets dressed in the national costume3),the butter-fly-sleeved dress,surrounded by page boys,flower girls who scatter petals4),and their relatives and neighbors who sing and chant Hail Marys.
On the last night of May,this festival culminates with torchlight5) parades,open houses,games,and richly elaborate banquets.A feature of these is the Filipino variation on the Mexican pinata:a bamboo frame from which dangle packages of sweets,fruit,and toys on strings6).Children leap at the packages while adults control the strings by means of a pulley system.In Manila,this is one of the biggest nights of the year,and many people attend formal balls.
五 月 花 節(jié)
在菲律賓,五月是充滿了節(jié)日氣氛的日子。整個(gè)這一個(gè)月,小學(xué)生們都收集花束和用花做的禮品并將其送到教堂。與此同時(shí),被選作節(jié)日皇后的女孩子們穿著蝴蝶袖連衣裙的民族服裝沿街游行,周圍是小男儐相、撒花的女花童以及吟唱萬福瑪利亞的親戚和鄰居。
在五月的最后一個(gè)晚上,人們舉著火把游行,敞開家門,做游戲,精心制作豐盛的筵席,使節(jié)日達(dá)到高潮。一項(xiàng)有特色的東西是仿墨西哥的彩罐做成的菲律賓式的竹筐,在筐上用繩子掛著一包包的糖、水果和玩具。孩子們跳起來夠這些包,大人們則用一組滑輪控制著繩子。在馬尼拉,這是一年中最隆重的夜晚之一,許多人都去參加傳統(tǒng)的舞會(huì)。
NOTE 注釋:
bouquet [5bu(:)kei, bu5kei] n. 花束
floral [5flC:rEl] adj. 花似的, 花的
costume [5kCstju:m, -5tju:m] n. 裝束, 服裝
petal [5petl] n. 花瓣
torchlight [5tC:tFlaIt] n. 火炬之光
string [striN] n. 線, 細(xì)繩