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【Abstract】 Festivals can be series of performance of music， plays， films/movies， etc.， usually organized in the same place once a year， such as beer festivals， a series of public events connected with a particular activity or idea such as Shakespeare Drama’s Festival ， or a day or period of the year when people stop working to celebrate a special event， often a religious one. Some of the festivals shared in this paper may sound familiar to you， but you may not know some of the anecdotes associated with their origin. Others may be unfamiliar to you， or may even be quite informal， but you’ll find them interesting after reading the paper.
【Key words】Festivals; Anecdotes
【作者簡介】刘梦琪 （1989.10-），女，河北霸县人，江西应用科技学院，硕士，研究方向：翻译。
You may know Christmas or Christmas Eve， but have you ever heard of “Boxing Day”？ This legal festival falls on the day after Christmas， and is celebrated in the UK， Australia and New Zealand. Traditionally， it was on Boxing Day that people gave Christmas gifts or money to their staff or servants. Now that most British people do not have servants， this custom is no longer observed. However， a new Boxing Day custom has emerged. Shops open up to sell off all their Christmas stock decorations， food， cards and gift items at low prices. Various department stores in the UK such as Harrods， Selfridgies and LIBERTY will offer a lot of discounts and promotions， so shopping spree is a typical way of celebrating this festival.
According to the data of Experian， a data company， and IMRG （Interactive Media in Retail Group）， on the Christmas of 2014， the overall online sales volume reached 636 million pounds， while the overall sales volume of the UK on Boxing Day of the same year reached a record high of 3 billion pounds. This festival may be an equivalent to “Nov. 11” in China， when lots of e-commerce giants will offer discounts and promotions.
Everybody knows that International Children’s Day is celebrated on June 1st. This may be a joyous occasion for kids， but do you know that in 1950 when the festival was first established by Women’s International Democratic Federation， it was aimed at commemorating the children that died in Lidice Massacre on June 10th， 1942 and all wars. It protests against torturing， killing and poisoning children， and guarantees children’s rights.
In Japan， however， the festival falls on three different dates. Boy’s Festival is on May 5th. On this day， colorful carp kites， called koinobori flags， are raised on a large carp from houses， indicating the number of boys in the family with the largest kite representing the oldest boy at the top. The carp is a symbol of determination and vigor， overcoming all obstacles to swim upstream. Girl’s Festival is on March 3rd. On this day， various dolls will be arranged at home. November 15th is for boys aged five and girls aged three and seven. Therefore， it is named Shichi-Go-San Festival. On this day， boys and girls will put on kimonos， and be led to shrines by their parents. They will buy thousand-year-old cakes there. Children of the three ages celebrate this festival since it is said that these are the critical period for children’s growth. There are a lot of lesser known informal but interesting festivals as well. For example， tomato festival， called La Tomatina. It happens in a small town Hanoi on the last Wednesday of August every year. During the festival there are all kinds of activities， but the most exciting part is the tomato fight. It takes place at the end of long celebration. You are encouraged to throw tomatoes in the fight. There’re many stories about how the festival began. One of the stories goes that during the 1940’s， some friends started a tomato fight， while another story is about a local band.
Before the tomato fight， there are parades， musical bands， street parties and so on. On the day of the fight， shopkeepers cover their windows and doors in order to keep away from the tomato fight. At the same time， thousands of tourists and local people come to the town square together. Then large trucks full of tomatoes arrive. From the back of the large trucks， a great town band starts to throw tomatoes at others. Then the crowds fight back， throwing the tomatoes at anything and anyone. Soon the streets are in the sea of red tomato juice.
Everyone is supposed to obey a small number of rules： You must squash the tomato before throwing it and you are allowed to throw nothing but tomatoes.
The celebration usually lasts less than half an hour. Everyone then sets off to the river to clear up.
There are also festivals for beer everywhere in the world. For example， in Qingdao， China， this festival dates back to 1991. There are no fixed dates for this festival. Usually， it lasts for two weeks. This year， it will be held late July through the end of August at Golden Sands Beach in Huangdao District of the city. This is the largest beer festival in Asia， it begins with a grand opening concert and ceremony， followed by beer tasting， evening entertainment， drinking competitions， carnival events， and concluded with a themed final ceremony. Every summer， during the month of August， international breweries from all over the globe flock to the sandy shores of China’s Sailing City in Shandong Province.
References：
[1]全国大学生英語竞赛B类（英语专业）历年真题及模拟试题详解（第10版）[M].北京：中国石化出版社，2018.
【Key words】Festivals; Anecdotes
【作者簡介】刘梦琪 （1989.10-），女，河北霸县人，江西应用科技学院，硕士，研究方向：翻译。
You may know Christmas or Christmas Eve， but have you ever heard of “Boxing Day”？ This legal festival falls on the day after Christmas， and is celebrated in the UK， Australia and New Zealand. Traditionally， it was on Boxing Day that people gave Christmas gifts or money to their staff or servants. Now that most British people do not have servants， this custom is no longer observed. However， a new Boxing Day custom has emerged. Shops open up to sell off all their Christmas stock decorations， food， cards and gift items at low prices. Various department stores in the UK such as Harrods， Selfridgies and LIBERTY will offer a lot of discounts and promotions， so shopping spree is a typical way of celebrating this festival.
According to the data of Experian， a data company， and IMRG （Interactive Media in Retail Group）， on the Christmas of 2014， the overall online sales volume reached 636 million pounds， while the overall sales volume of the UK on Boxing Day of the same year reached a record high of 3 billion pounds. This festival may be an equivalent to “Nov. 11” in China， when lots of e-commerce giants will offer discounts and promotions.
Everybody knows that International Children’s Day is celebrated on June 1st. This may be a joyous occasion for kids， but do you know that in 1950 when the festival was first established by Women’s International Democratic Federation， it was aimed at commemorating the children that died in Lidice Massacre on June 10th， 1942 and all wars. It protests against torturing， killing and poisoning children， and guarantees children’s rights.
In Japan， however， the festival falls on three different dates. Boy’s Festival is on May 5th. On this day， colorful carp kites， called koinobori flags， are raised on a large carp from houses， indicating the number of boys in the family with the largest kite representing the oldest boy at the top. The carp is a symbol of determination and vigor， overcoming all obstacles to swim upstream. Girl’s Festival is on March 3rd. On this day， various dolls will be arranged at home. November 15th is for boys aged five and girls aged three and seven. Therefore， it is named Shichi-Go-San Festival. On this day， boys and girls will put on kimonos， and be led to shrines by their parents. They will buy thousand-year-old cakes there. Children of the three ages celebrate this festival since it is said that these are the critical period for children’s growth. There are a lot of lesser known informal but interesting festivals as well. For example， tomato festival， called La Tomatina. It happens in a small town Hanoi on the last Wednesday of August every year. During the festival there are all kinds of activities， but the most exciting part is the tomato fight. It takes place at the end of long celebration. You are encouraged to throw tomatoes in the fight. There’re many stories about how the festival began. One of the stories goes that during the 1940’s， some friends started a tomato fight， while another story is about a local band.
Before the tomato fight， there are parades， musical bands， street parties and so on. On the day of the fight， shopkeepers cover their windows and doors in order to keep away from the tomato fight. At the same time， thousands of tourists and local people come to the town square together. Then large trucks full of tomatoes arrive. From the back of the large trucks， a great town band starts to throw tomatoes at others. Then the crowds fight back， throwing the tomatoes at anything and anyone. Soon the streets are in the sea of red tomato juice.
Everyone is supposed to obey a small number of rules： You must squash the tomato before throwing it and you are allowed to throw nothing but tomatoes.
The celebration usually lasts less than half an hour. Everyone then sets off to the river to clear up.
There are also festivals for beer everywhere in the world. For example， in Qingdao， China， this festival dates back to 1991. There are no fixed dates for this festival. Usually， it lasts for two weeks. This year， it will be held late July through the end of August at Golden Sands Beach in Huangdao District of the city. This is the largest beer festival in Asia， it begins with a grand opening concert and ceremony， followed by beer tasting， evening entertainment， drinking competitions， carnival events， and concluded with a themed final ceremony. Every summer， during the month of August， international breweries from all over the globe flock to the sandy shores of China’s Sailing City in Shandong Province.
References：
[1]全国大学生英語竞赛B类（英语专业）历年真题及模拟试题详解（第10版）[M].北京：中国石化出版社，2018.