A: Christmas for me is very different to your Lunar New Year vacation. For one thing, it only really lasts for one day.
B: That’s a big difference. If I spend time with my father over the break, I’ll be on the road with him for almost a week. My extended family is dotted around the country. We’ll have to travel to at least two cities.
A: I have five siblings, two of whom are married with kids. The married ones usually just spend Christmas with their immediate families. They sometimes visit my parents’ house to say hi. Some years they don’t bother.
Photo: Pixabay 照片:Pixabay
B: Do they live quite far from your parents?
A: No, but that still doesn’t mean they’ll visit on Christmas day. The unmarried ones will generally spend the day with my parents. My youngest brother still lives at home, anyway.
A: 我過聖誕節跟你過春節假期是很不一樣的。聖誕節只有一天,這是其中一點。
B: 這就有很大的不同。如果我春節假期去陪我爸,就幾乎是一整個禮拜都要跟他一起到處跑。我們的親戚住在國內各地,所以我們得要去至少兩個城市。
A: 我有五個兄弟姊妹,其中兩個已經結婚有小孩了。結婚的通常只跟他們小家庭一起過節。他們有時候會來我爸媽家探望,也有幾年懶得來。
B: 他們住得離你爸媽家遠嗎?
A: 不遠哪,可是這並不表示他們會在聖誕節當天來訪。沒結婚的通常會在聖誕節當天陪我爸媽過節。反正我最小的弟弟還住在家裡。
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times/台北時報林俐凱譯)
English 英文:
Chinese 中文:
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Lucas was already on the ground before he fully understood what was happening. “Hurry! Kneel down!” someone shouted. The asphalt was warm against his knees. Around him, dozens of people lay flat in the narrow street outside Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia. Some pressed their hands together in prayer. Others closed their eyes. Lucas had only come to look at the temple. An hour earlier he had stepped into the noisy courtyard out of curiosity. Inside the main hall, people held incense sticks, bowed three times,
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