商務禮節美語第75期:萬聖節前夕(1)

Lenny下班等公車遇到同事Susan , 問Susan明天要裝扮成什麼，問得Susan一頭霧水。

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Lenny: Hey Susan, what are you coming as this year?

Susan: Coming as?

L: Halloween! We have a big office party tomorrow evening. There's a prize for best costume!

S: Um...I have to confess, I haven't given it much thought. I'm from China and Halloween really isn't celebrated there.

原來是公司明天晚上要開萬聖節派對，萬聖節是Halloween 又稱鬼節，是美國最熱鬧的節日之一。Susan 說，I have to confess. confess 是主動交代的意思，Susan 說自己沒怎麼好好想。I haven't given it much thought. to give some thought to something 指對某事認真考慮，Susan說，中國不過萬聖節，這裏用的 celebrate 是慶祝的意思，可以說 Halloween is not celebrated in China; 也可以說 We don't celebrate Halloween in China. 主動，被動都可以。

L: Really! You don't have some kind of Chinese ghost festival?
S: . We have an entire month! In traditional Chinese culture, "Ghost Month" is a period when the door between this world and beyond opens up and ghosts come back to earth for a visit.

L: Cool! A whole month! What do you do during that month?

S: Well, people sometimes set off firecrackers, some people burn paper money as an offering and many people go to a temple to burn incense.
Mainly though, you need to feed the ghosts because they're hungry.

Susan說，中國雖然不過萬聖節，但是農曆裏卻有整整一個月來祭奠陰間來訪的鬼，稱爲鬼月。祭奠的方式包括放鞭炮 set off firecrackers，燒紙錢burn paper money，到寺廟裏去燒香等，但是最重要的是要把餓鬼餵飽。

L: Feed them?

S: set up tables with food, fruit and drinks and offer that to the hungry ghosts.

L: And then later everyone eats the food?

S: Yes! How did you guess that?

L: It makes sense, right? Who else is going to eat it?

S: Good Point!

L: But no dressing up like ghosts, right?

S: No! (chuckle) Halloween essentially the same thing as "ghost month?"

Susan說，鬼月的時候，大家會在桌子上擺放食物，水果，飲料等等，進奉給餓鬼。不過，在中國過鬼月，不用裝扮成鬼的樣子，people don't dress up like ghosts. dress up 可以指穿成某種樣子，也可以指穿得很正式，比如, I dressed up for a job interview today. 意思是我今天有個工作面試，所以穿正裝。那中國的鬼月跟西方的鬼節一樣嗎？我們下次繼續聽。