Grammar and Halloween

2023-10-27 14:14:42来源：网络

Grammar and Halloween

语法和万圣节

　　By Jill Robbins

　　26 October 2023

　　An interesting holiday in the United States is coming up soon. Halloween happens on the last day of October. If you have lived in the U.S., you have probably noticed many changes in the month or so before Halloween. Let's hear about some of them and explore the vocabulary and expressions you might hear this time of year.

　　‘Trick-or-treat'

　　First, you should know about trick-or-treating. Children dress up in special clothes, or costumes, to look like frightening creatures. They might dress up as little vampires, ghosts and witches or superheroes. Then their parents walk with them to the homes of neighbors, where the children knock at the door and call out, "Trick or treat!"

　　Some people believe the custom goes back to an old Celtic celebration in which people went from door to door asking for firewood. The Celts believed that the spirits of the dead would return to their homes on October 31, the day of the autumn feast. The Celts would build large fires to frighten away evil spirits on that night.

　　In modern-day Halloween, the children ask for candy. That's the "treat" part. The "trick" part is what happens if you do not give them something.

　　Before Halloween, communities might create a "haunted house" in an old house or an open field. Visitors can walk through the place and be frightened and surprised by unusual noises and people dressed up like ghosts or spirits.

　　Fear plays a big part in Halloween celebrations. The words we use to talk about fear include "scary," an adjective to show something causes fear and "afraid" an adjective that describes the person who feels fear. We might say, "I'm scared of ghosts," to say we are afraid of ghosts.

　　Another word we use to describe things that cause fear is "spooky." Little people trying to look like ghosts might say, "Boo!" to frighten others. Let's put some of these expressions together to see how they work.

　　Greg has a really scary costume this year. He said "Boo!" to me and I jumped!

　　Caty's house looks really spooky with all those skeletons and spider webs that she put out in her yard.

　　I'm not afraid of ghosts but seeing people dressed up as witches scares me!

　　You will see that stores begin offering many kinds of candies in small packages. We call these "individually wrapped" treats. They are meant for handing out to children as part of trick-or-treating. Some candy makers call these small packages "fun-sized" treats.

　　Halloween decorations

　　People put some strange things on and around their homes for Halloween. People hang toy spiders, skeletons and other scary decorations on trees and bushes. You will see pumpkins everywhere. People often empty the pumpkins and make scary faces on them. Then they place a candle inside so the pumpkin face shines in the night. We call these "jack-o-lanterns."

　　The custom of carving scary faces into vegetables is believed to come to us from the Irish. They had an old story about a wandering soul named Stingy Jack. They carved faces in turnips to frighten him away. When they came to America, they found the pumpkin was widely available. So, they carved faces into pumpkins, and made what we call the jack-o-lantern today. Now, children carry plastic buckets made to look like a carved pumpkin. They fill them with candy as they trick-or-treat around their neighborhood.

　　We close with a usual conversation around Halloween in the U.S. See how many traditions and customs you can spot.

　　A: Are you going to any Halloween parties this year?

　　B: No, I have to take my kids trick-or-treating. Then I'm too tired to dress up and go out to a party. Are you going?

　　A: Yes, I'm going to be a vampire this year. My block has a great party with a haunted house every year.

　　B: Oh, I wish I could go. Hey, will you help me carve these pumpkins? I want to put them out front.

　　B: Sure, I love carving jack-o-lanterns. Can I have some of that candy while I'm working?

　　A: Of course. Help yourself to those fun-sized Hershey bars. I only have a hundred of them.

　　Does your culture have any celebrations where you dress up or give out treats? Write to us in the comments to tell us about them!

　　And that's Everyday Grammar for Halloween. Boo!

　　I'm Jill Robbins.

　　Jill Robbins wrote this lesson for Learning English.

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　　吉尔·罗宾斯

　　2023年10月26日

　　一个有趣的美国假期即将到来。万圣节在十月的最后一天。如果你住在美国，你可能已经注意到万圣节前一个月左右的许多变化。让我们来听听其中的一些，并探索你在一年中的这个时候可能会听到的词汇和表达。

　　“不给糖就捣蛋”

　　首先，你应该知道不给糖就捣蛋。儿童连衣裙向上穿着特殊的衣服或服装，看起来像可怕的生物。他们可能会打扮得很小吸血鬼, 鬼和女巫或者超级英雄。然后他们的父母和他们一起走到邻居家，在那里，孩子们敲门并大声喊道:“不给糖就捣蛋！”

　　一些人认为这个习俗可以追溯到一个古老的凯尔特庆祝活动，在这个活动中，人们挨家挨户地寻找柴火。凯尔特人相信死者的灵魂会在10月31日，也就是秋季盛宴的那一天回到他们的家。凯尔特人会在那天晚上生起大火来吓跑恶灵。

　　在现代的万圣节，孩子们要糖果。那是“款待”的部分。“诡计”部分是如果你不给他们东西会发生什么。

　　在万圣节之前，社区可能会创建一个“闹鬼的房子”在老房子里或空旷的田野里。游客可以穿过这个地方，被不寻常的噪音和打扮成鬼或精灵的人吓到和吓到。

　　恐惧在万圣节庆祝活动中扮演着重要角色。我们用来谈论恐惧的词包括“可怕的”，一个形容词来表示引起恐惧的事物，以及“害怕的”，一个形容词来描述感到恐惧的人。我们可能会说，“我害怕鬼，”来表示我们害怕鬼。

　　我们用来描述引起恐惧的事物的另一个词是“令人毛骨悚然的。试图看起来像鬼的小人可能会说，“嘘！“吓唬别人。让我们把这些表达放在一起，看看它们是如何工作的。

　　格雷格今年有一套非常恐怖的服装。他说“嘘！”向我扑来，我跳了下去！

　　凯蒂的房子看起来真的很恐怖，因为她在院子里放了那些骷髅和蜘蛛网。

　　我不怕鬼，但是看到打扮成女巫的人让我害怕！

　　你会看到商店开始提供许多小包装的糖果。我们称这些为“独立包装”的零食。它们是作为“不给糖就捣蛋”的一部分分发给孩子们的。一些糖果制造商称这些小包装为“有趣尺寸”的糖果。

　　万圣节装饰品

　　人们在万圣节前夕在他们的房子上和周围放一些奇怪的东西。人们挂上玩具蜘蛛、骷髅和其他吓人的东西装饰品在树上和灌木丛上。你会看到到处都是南瓜。人们经常把南瓜倒空，并在上面做出吓人的表情。然后他们在里面放一支蜡烛，这样南瓜脸就能在夜晚发光。我们称之为“杰克灯”

　　在蔬菜上雕刻恐怖面孔的习俗被认为是从爱尔兰传到我们这里的。他们有一个关于一个名叫吝啬杰克的流浪灵魂的古老故事。他们在芜菁上刻下脸来吓走他。当他们来到美国，他们发现南瓜随处可见。因此，他们在南瓜上刻下面孔，并制作了我们今天所说的南瓜灯。现在，孩子们提着看起来像雕刻南瓜的塑料桶。他们在邻居家玩“不给糖就捣蛋”的游戏时，会在里面装满糖果。

　　我们以一段美国万圣节前后的日常对话结束，看看你能发现多少传统和习俗。

　　你今年会去万圣节派对吗？

　　不行，我得带我的孩子去不给糖就捣蛋。然后我太累了，不想穿好衣服出去参加聚会。你要去吗？

　　是的，今年我要变成一个吸血鬼。我住的街区每年都会举办一个有鬼屋的大型派对。

　　哦，我希望我能去。嘿，你能帮我雕刻这些南瓜吗？我想把它们放在前面。

　　当然，我喜欢雕刻空心南瓜灯。我工作的时候能吃点糖果吗？

　　答:当然可以。请随便吃些好玩的好时巧克力棒。我只有一百个。

　　在你们的文化中，有什么庆祝活动需要你穿上盛装或者分发礼物吗？请在评论中给我们写信，告诉我们关于他们的事情！

　　这就是万圣节的日常语法。嘘！

　　我是吉尔·罗宾斯。

　　吉尔·罗宾斯为学习英语写了这一课。

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