饺子为什么像元宝？
Why do Chinese dumplings look like gold ingots?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
除夕晚上，全家人坐在桌子旁边吃饺子。突然，爸爸停了下来，从嘴里拿出一个小小的硬币。“今年我要发财了！”他高兴地说。奶奶看着他说：“怎么每年都是你吃到？”
在中国北方，春节吃饺子是一个很重要的传统。为什么是饺子呢？其中一个原因跟它的样子有关。你认真看一看，饺子是不是两头小、中间大？它很像古代的元宝。元宝是用金子或者银子做成的钱，样子像一条小船。所以，吃饺子就好像把钱吃进了肚子里，表示希望新的一年能获得更多财富。有些家庭还会说：“新年大发财，元宝滚进来。”
饺子的名字也很有意思。有一种说法是，“饺子”的“饺”，发音和“交换”的第一个字差不多。古人把夜里11点到1点叫作“子时”，而除夕的子时，正好是旧的一年和新的一年交替的时候。因此，在这个时候吃饺子，就有“送走旧年、迎接新年”的意思。
至于硬币，这也是很多家庭的风俗。包饺子的时候，人们会把一个洗干净的硬币包进其中一个饺子里。谁吃到了，就说明谁新的一年运气最好。有的地方还喜欢包糖或者花生，吃到糖的人，日子会过得甜甜的。当然，吃的时候要小心，别把牙咬坏了。
那么，饺子是谁发明的？民间流传着一个故事。传说东汉有一位医生叫张仲景。有一年冬天特别冷，他看到很多穷人的耳朵都冻坏了，就把羊肉和一些药放在一起煮，再用面粉做的薄皮包起来，做成耳朵的样子，送给大家吃。这就是“娇耳”，后来慢慢变成了今天的饺子。这只是一个传说，不过很多人都愿意相信它。
那天晚上，奶奶终于发现了爸爸的秘密：那个有硬币的饺子是他自己包的，比别的饺子都大。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 停 | tíng | to stop; to halt |
| 其中 | qízhōng | among them; in it |
| 原因 | yuányīn | cause; reason |
| 样子 | yàngzi | appearance; look |
| 肚子 | dùzi | belly; abdomen; stomach |
| 表示 | biǎoshì | to express; to indicate; to state |
| 获得 | huòdé | to obtain; to gain; to win |
| 家庭 | jiātíng | family; household |
| 叫作 | jiàozuò | to be called; to be known as |
| 正好 | zhènghǎo | happen to; as it happens |
| 因此 | yīncǐ | therefore; consequently; for this reason |
| 说明 | shuōmíng | explanation; instructions; to explain; to illustrate |
English (for the teacher)
New Year’s Eve: the whole family sits round the table eating dumplings. Suddenly Dad stops and takes a tiny coin out of his mouth. “This is my year to get rich!” he says happily. Grandma looks at him: “How come it’s you who finds it every year?”
In northern China, eating dumplings at Spring Festival is an important tradition. Why dumplings? One reason has to do with their shape. Take a good look: isn’t a dumpling small at both ends and fat in the middle? It looks a lot like an ancient yuanbao ingot. A yuanbao was money made of gold or silver, shaped like a little boat. So eating dumplings is a bit like putting money in your stomach: it shows you hope to gain more wealth in the new year. Some families even say: “Get rich in the New Year, let the ingots roll in!”
The name is interesting too. One explanation is that the “jiao” in “jiaozi” sounds almost the same as the first character of “jiaohuan”, to exchange. In the old days, 11 pm to 1 am was called the “zi hour”, and the zi hour on New Year’s Eve is exactly when the new year takes over from the old one. So eating dumplings at that moment means “seeing off the old year and welcoming the new”.
As for the coin, that’s a custom in many families too. When making the dumplings, people wrap a washed coin inside one of them. Whoever finds it will have the best luck in the new year. Some places wrap sugar or peanuts as well, and whoever gets the sugar will have a sweet year. Of course, eat carefully, or you’ll break a tooth.
So who invented dumplings? There’s a folk story. Legend has it that in the Eastern Han dynasty there was a doctor called Zhang Zhongjing. One winter was so cold that he saw many poor people with frostbitten ears, so he boiled mutton with some medicines, wrapped it in thin flour skins shaped like ears, and gave them to everyone. These were the “tender ears”, which slowly became today’s dumplings. It’s only a legend, but plenty of people like to believe it.
That night, Grandma finally discovered Dad’s secret: the dumpling with the coin was one he had wrapped himself, and it was bigger than all the others.