Guo Nian LA,过年了2009-01-08 14:38
The CNY is coming,below artcle for yours:
快过年了,下面的中英,两种文章给大家释读:
Far and away the most important holiday in China is Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year. To the Chinese people it is as important as Christmas to people in the West. The dates for this annual celebration are determined by the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar, so the timing of the holiday varies from late January to early February.
To the ordinary Chinese, the festival actually begins on the eve of the lunar New Year's Day and ends on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar. But the 15th of the first month, which normally is called the Lantern Festival, means the official end of the Spring Festival in many parts of the country.
很早以前,中国最重要地节日就是春节,也叫中国新年.对中国人来讲它象西方地圣诞一样重要.这个一年一次地盛大庆典是由中国地农历决定,而不是公历.放假时间一般是一月底到二月初.节日从新年地晚上到农历地15结束.但第一个月地15叫元宵节,在很多地方意味春节地结束.
Preparations for the New Year begin the last few days of the last moon, when houses are thoroughly cleaned, debts repaid, hair cut and new clothes purchased. Houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious antithetical couplet (as show on both side of the page) and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months.
在新年开始的最后几天我们要准备:清洗房子，偿还债务，理头和买新衣等。房屋贴上吉祥的春联对联（在房门地两侧） ，而且许多人家在家里和寺庙烧香以表敬意，并要求对祖先或神的保佑,保佑以后身体健康。
"Guo Nian," meaning "passing the year," is the common term among the Chinese people for celebrating the Spring Festival. It actually means greeting the new year. At midnight at the turn of the old and new year, people used to let off fire-crackers which serve to drive away the evil spirits and to greet the arrival of the new year. In an instant the whole city would be engulfed in the deafening noise of the firecrackers. “过年”意思是“度过年假这几天 ”,是华人华侨庆祝春节共同的名词。这实际上意味着祝贺新一年。午夜新旧交替的时候，人们用放爆竹来赶走邪灵和迎接新的一年。将整个城市在瞬间被笼罩在震耳欲聋的鞭炮声中。
On New Year's Eve, all the members of families come together to feast. Jiaozi, a steamed dumpling as pictured below, is popular in the north, while southerners favor a sticky sweet glutinous rice pudding called nian gao.在除夕，所有的家庭成员共同的节日。饺子，蒸饺的照片在下面，是流行在北方的，而南方人喜欢粘甜糯米糕,称为年糕。
参考资料：http://hi.baidu.com/seantom/blog/item/493bff2bdf24a3fde6cd402a.html