Culture Topics (文化话题英语)

Valentine’’s Day 七夕
Chinese Valentine
cowherd, hence Niulang, came across a beautiful girl--Zhinü (the seventh
A young cowherd

daughter of Emperor and Goddess), who escaped from boring heaven to look for fun and soon

fell in love with Niulang. They got married without the knowledge of the Goddess. They lived
happily and had two children. But the Goddess of

Heaven got furious when she found out that Zhinü,

a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal and ordered

Zhinü to return to heaven.

On Earth, Niulang was very upset that his wife

had disappeared. Suddenly, his ox began to talk,

telling him that if he killed it and put on its hide, he

would be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife.

Crying bitterly
bitterly, he killed the ox, put on the skin, and carried his two beloved children off to
Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess discovered this and was very angry. Taking out her

hairpin
hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus

forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega

Vega. But once a year all the magpies in the world
would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (鹊桥, "the bridge of magpies",

Que Qiao) over the Milky Way, so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the

seventh night of the seventh moon, the Qixi Jie or the Chinese Valentine’s Day.

Qixi Jie is becoming more and more popular among young people and they choose to get

married on that day to celebrate their everlasting love and marriage.

NEW WORDS

cowherd furious mortal bitterly

hairpin Milky Way Altair Vega

QUESTIONS
1. Who were the two lovers who got married?

2. Why do you think the Goddess separated them?

3. Why do you think did the magpies pity them?

CHALLENGE
Describe another Chinese holiday and explain where it came from.