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The monster Year (part III) 年獸（三）

ILLUSTRATIONS: COURTESY OF EXPLORER PUBLICATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS: COURTESY OF EXPLORER PUBLICATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS: COURTESY OF EXPLORER PUBLICATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS: COURTESY OF EXPLORER PUBLICATIONS

» Continued from yesterday.

But on New Year’s Day, the boy was still alive there in the middle of the square. It seemed that Year went and ate other children in the village. This puzzled everyone. What made the boy so special? Was it because he was so loved? Was it because he was an only child? People kept wondering and going around each other’s home, trying to figure out why some children were eaten while others stayed alive. One thing they noticed was that usually it was the first born who were eaten and yet not all the first born.

They lined up the first born to examine what made the children who survived so special. They looked at their height. They looked at their weight. They looked at their hair. Finally, they noticed that each child was wearing something red. Could this be the secret to scaring the monster Year away?

On the eve of the next New Year, every first born child wore something red. They still used firecrackers to scare the monster. They still made year cakes for the monster to eat. They still stayed up all night. The next morning, every child was alive, no one was eaten. The celebration of that New Year was especially happy because they had discovered the secret of scaring the monster Year. And ever since then, the people in the Middle Kingdom have celebrated New Year with all the children wearing something red on the eve of the New Year.

So, all you who are reading this story, make sure you put on your Spider-Man red underwear or your Superman pajamas this New Year, and you’ll be waking up with the biggest and nicest red envelope under your pillow.

» 接續昨日.

但到了年初一，小男孩依然好好地在廣場中央，「年」似乎吃了村裡其他的小孩。所有人都感到困惑。這個小男孩有什麼特別之處？因為他擁有滿滿的父愛？或因為他是獨子？大家邊猜邊到各戶人家打轉，試圖找出某些孩子被吃掉，但某些卻活下來的原因；他們發現被吃掉的孩子多是長子，但又不全然是。

大家把活下來的長子列隊集合起來，檢視他們有何特別之處，在打量其身高、體重及頭髮後，他們終於發現每個小孩都穿戴了紅色的東西，難道這就是嚇走「年」的秘密嗎？

隔年的除夕，所有長子身上都穿戴了紅色的東西，村民還是利用炮竹來嚇「年」，也製作了年糕讓牠吃，並整晚不睡；第二天早上，所有小孩都活得好好的，沒有人被吃掉。因為發現了嚇走年獸的秘密，所以那年的新年慶祝起來特別快樂。從此以後，中原民族在慶祝新年時，總會讓所有小孩在除夕穿上紅色的衣物。

所以，所有看到這篇故事的朋友們，今年過年記得穿上蜘蛛人的紅色內褲或是超人的睡衣，等你一覺醒來時，就會發現枕頭下有大紅包囉！

Extracted from: 內容選錄自： From Monsters to Mooncakes WRITTEN BY: Lovely Ko-Alagata Published by: Cengage / c. 2006

重要單字片語 1. figure v. phr. — to come up with the right answer 想出 (xiang3 chu1) 例: My brother finally figured out the answer to that difficult math problem. (我弟弟終於解出那道困難的數學題了。)

Question 1. What is Year scared of? a. Year cakes. b. Red. c. Love. d. Calendars. --------------------------- ANSWER: 1. b

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