月饼里面有什么?
What are mooncakes?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 送 | sòng | to give (as a present) |
| 打开 | dǎkāi | to open |
| 花 | huā | flower; blossom |
| 笑 | xiào | to laugh; to smile |
| 这样 | zhèyàng | like this; this way |
| 一起 | yìqǐ | together |
| 肉 | ròu | meat; flesh |
| 有意思 | yǒuyìsi | interesting; fun |
| 同事 | tóngshì | colleague; coworker |
| 礼物 | lǐwù | gift; present |
| 月亮 | yuèliang | the moon |
| 甜 | tián | sweet |
English (for the teacher)
One day in September, a Chinese colleague gave me a present. I opened it: four round things, with pretty flowers and characters on top. My colleague smiled and said: “The Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here, these are mooncakes for you.”
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. That night the moon is big and round. To Chinese people, a moon like that is like the whole family being together. So that night many people go home to have dinner with their family, look at the moon, and eat mooncakes too.
Like the moon, mooncakes are round. Many mooncakes are sweet inside. Some also have a yellow thing in the middle, just like the moon in the sky. Foreigners eating one for the first time often ask: “Why is there an egg in here?” But it isn’t a hen’s egg: it’s a duck egg yolk, and a little salty.
Mooncakes come in many flavours. There are sweet ones and salty ones, and some even have meat inside. In different places, they look and taste different.
Mooncakes also have an interesting story. It is said that more than six hundred years ago, some people wanted to rise up together, but no one else could know. So they wrote a date on little slips of paper, put them inside mooncakes and handed them out. As soon as people ate their mooncakes, they all knew which day it was. Whether the story is true, nobody knows anymore.
Mooncakes are delicious, but a whole one is a bit much for one person. So Chinese people often cut it into a few small pieces and the family eats it together. If you get mooncakes too, eat them like this: invite a few friends over, look at the moon, and eat.