元宵节：看灯、猜谜语
What is the Lantern Festival?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
在中国，过春节不是一天，是很多天。那么，春节什么时候才算过完呢？很多人会说：“过了正月十五，年才算过完了。”
正月十五是元宵节。这天晚上的月亮，是新年里第一个圆圆的月亮。街上和公园里也都是灯：红色的，黄色的，有的像花，有的像鱼，还有的像今年的动物。所以，它也叫“灯节”。
很多灯下边还有一张小纸条，上边写着一个谜语。猜对了，常常还可以拿到一个小礼物。
我们也来猜一个吧。小纸条上写着：“大口吃小口。”这是一个字。你知道是什么字吗？
是“回”。你看，一个大“口”里边，有一个小“口”，这是“回”字。
看完了灯，还要吃元宵。它是用米做的小圆球，里边常常是甜的。在北方，很多人叫它“元宵”；在南方，很多人叫它“汤圆”。两个名字，做法不太一样，可是吃的时候，味道差不多。圆圆的样子，就像一家人在一起。
所以，元宵节的晚上有三件事要做：看灯、猜谜、吃元宵。谜语猜不出来也没关系，元宵还是可以吃的。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 过 | guò | (particle) marks a past experience: have ever |
| 红色 | hóngsè | red |
| 花 | huā | flower; blossom |
| 鱼 | yú | fish |
| 一起 | yìqǐ | together |
| 月亮 | yuèliang | the moon |
| 新年 | xīnnián | New Year |
| 街 | jiē | street |
| 公园 | gōngyuán | park |
| 灯 | dēng | lamp; light |
| 黄色 | huángsè | yellow |
| 像 | xiàng | like; as |
English (for the teacher)
In China, Spring Festival isn’t one day; it’s many days. So when is it really over? Many people will tell you: “Once the fifteenth of the first month has passed, New Year is over.”
The fifteenth of the first month is the Lantern Festival. The moon that night is the first full moon of the new year. The streets and parks are full of lanterns, red and yellow, some shaped like flowers, some like fish, some like this year’s zodiac animal. That’s why it is also called the Lantern Festival.
Under many of the lanterns hangs a little slip of paper with a riddle on it. Get it right, and you can often take home a little prize.
Let’s try one too. The slip says: “A big mouth eats a small mouth.” It’s a single character. Do you know which one?
It’s 回. Look: a big 口 (mouth) with a small 口 inside it: that’s the character 回.
After the lanterns, there are yuanxiao to eat. Yuanxiao are little round balls made from rice, usually sweet inside. In the north, many people call them yuanxiao; in the south, many call them tangyuan. Two names, made a little differently, but when you eat them they taste about the same. Their round shape is like a whole family together.
So on the night of the Lantern Festival there are three things to do: look at the lanterns, guess riddles, eat yuanxiao. If you can’t solve a riddle, don’t worry: you can still eat the yuanxiao.