四级六级汉译英新春专题系列：大年初五（两篇其二）

Directions: Translate the following passage into English.

       正月初五，也俗称“破五。“，”破“有破除，打破之意。旧时，春节期间民间认为初五不到，打扫卫生、丢垃圾、弄碎东西等都会把积攒一年的好运丢掉。所以等到大年初五一到，人们即早起，放鞭炮，大扫除，把一切不吉利的东西、和妖魔鬼怪都逐出家门。此外，人们还会有吃饺子或者汤圆的习俗，糯米（glutinous rice）制成汤圆的外皮（skin），口感软弹而有粘性，寓意着把小人黏走滚远，饺子皮（wrappers）紧紧封住，寓意着把小人的嘴封住，让谗言恶语无处开口。尽管这些习俗并无科学依据，但是这种对美好生活的期许，从未被人遗忘。

特色词汇：

坊间流传着一种观点，说法：there was a widespread / popular notion / a notion popular amongst the folks that...

恶言：evil words

恶魔：devils

不吉祥的东西：things of bad luck / evil stuffs

命途多舛：ill-fated

恶人，小人：evil persons / ill persons

       ★注：这里sick和ill不能互换，ill这里表达恶人，坏人或者是倒霉的。比如：ill-fated，厄运缠身的，ill man恶人，小人。反之对应的君子是：gentleman。

口感的说法：Q弹的口感类似于：有嚼劲，弹性好，用chewy，

口感浓厚：full of the flavor of...，

口感滑嫩：smooth，

入口即化：as if it would soon melt on your taste bud（味蕾）

黏的是sticky

科学依据：science proof / soil of science（形象表达：科学的土壤上）

从未被遗忘：直接翻译是never be forgotten；也可以说随着时间流逝没有褪去：never fade over time

参考译文：

       The fifth day of the Lunar New Year, is also widely known as "Po Wu." The character "Po（破）" carries a meaning of "kicking out" or "throwing away". In ancient times, there was a notion popular amongst the folks that doing cleanups, throwing away rubbish or breaking stuffs before the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, would wipe off all the good luck that one had earned over the past year. So as soon as the fifth day of the Lunar New Year arrives, people will get up really early, go out to set off firecrackers and do thorough cleanups, hoping to sweep all the evil stuffs and kick all the devils off their homes. Also, people have the tradition of eating (stuffed dumplings) or (sweet-stuffed round dumplings), usually, skins of tangyuan are made of glutinous rice, which taste soft, chewy and a bit sticky, they carry the meaning that they can stick all those evil people and then roll them away. For jiaozi, their wrappers are neatly sealed, which means that they will seal tightly those evil people's mouths and curb any chances for the slanders and evil words. Though there isn't any soil of science in these traditions and customs, it is people's love and hope that they have for a better life, which will never fade over time.