The fast typically lasts until after evening service or when the stars come out. After the fast, some might eat a traditional Russian dish called kutya. Kutya consists of grains, honey, and poppy seeds, shared from the same bowl to symbolize unity. No meat is allowed.
Christmas apples wrapped in cellophane are a popular holiday gift in China, which is said to be because the word “apple” sounds similar to “Christmas Eve” in Mandarin.
A huge seafood and pasta dinner is tradition for Italians on Christmas Eve. The tradition of serving seven different seafood dishes stems from the Roman Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Christmas Eve.
In Denmark, people celebrate Christmas Day on December 24. The Danish also countdown to Christmas using Advent wreaths. Wreaths feature four candles, one candle lit every one of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve.
Whereas many picture Christmas as a cozy, snowy holiday, Australians experience Christmas in the middle of summer. Australians often have cold Christmas dinners, and on Christmas Eve, fish markets are packed with people hoping to stock up on seafood before the holiday. Apparently pavlova is also a must as a Christmas dessert.
Beginning on December 16, children in Mexico go door-to-door asking if there's a symbolic “room at the inn,” and on Christmas Eve, they are invited in to celebrate. The tradition is called posadas, and it concludes in Christmas parties full of food, drinks, and pinatas.
In Norway, families light a candle every night starting on Christmas Eve and ending on New Year's Day. Norwegians also often exchange presents on Christmas Eve.
挪威家庭从平安夜开始，每夜点燃一支蜡烛，一直到新年才结束。挪威人通常也在平安夜交换礼物。
The gifts are brought by Santa Claus or by small gnomes called Nisse, folkloric characters historically responsible for the prosperity of the farm and family who began being thought of as the bearers of Christmas gifts in the mid 19th century.
Iceland has the tradition of exchanging books on Christmas Eve then spending the evening reading them. The holiday season starts off with the delivery of the Bokatidindi, which is a catalogue of every single book published in Iceland. The tradition began in during WWII. Paper was one of the few commodities not rationed, and Icelanders could indulge in their love of books (and in giving books as gifts) as they weren't in short supply.
Every year, families across the US and the UK hang up quirky little pickle-shaped ornaments when it comes time to trim their Christmas trees.
每年圣诞节，美国和英国的家庭都会在圣诞树上挂上新奇有趣的腌黄瓜状小饰品。
The practice is favored by many English-speaking families, and is thought to be a centuries-old tradition brought over from Germany.
很多英语国家的家庭都喜欢在圣诞树上挂腌黄瓜状装饰。据说这个传统来自德国，已经有几百年历史。
The tradition involves hiding the pickle ornament among the branches, and rewarding the child who finds it with the chance to open gifts first — or, alternatively, that person simply gets good luck for the year.
The origin of the tradition, however, is a bit murky.
但这个传统的起源却不太清楚。
In fact, it doesn't seem to have actually originated in Germany at all, since most Germans don't practice it.
其实这个传统并非来自德国，因为大多数德国人并不会在圣诞树上挂腌黄瓜状饰品。
A New York Times article pointed to a YouGov poll, in which 2,057 Germans were asked about the Christmas pickle.
《纽约时报》曾报道称，舆观调查网就圣诞树挂腌黄瓜状饰品的传统，向2057位德国人展开了调查。
The survey found that 91 percent had never even heard of it.
调查发现，91%的受访者从没听说过这个传统。
Another theory is that the tradition of hanging a pickle didn't actually start in Germany, but with a German immigrant in the US.
另一种说法是，这一传统并非源自德国，而是来自美国的一位德国移民。
According to a edition of Tampa Bay magazine, one legend goes that a German man named John Lower, who was born in Bavaria in 1842, moved to the US and became ill when he was in prison during the Civil War.
He convinced a guard to give him a pickle as a last meal, but he ended up surviving. After being released, he honored that pickle by starting his own family tradition of hiding a pickle in his Christmas tree for the kids — saying whoever found it would have the same good fortune he did.
Of course, that story is also unconfirmed, and could just be a tale that popped up to explain the pickles later on.
当然，这个说法也未经证实，仅能作为解释圣诞树挂腌黄瓜状饰品这种传统的一个传说故事。
According to Wide Open Country, the whole pickle game was most likely a marketing ploy to sell German glass ornaments to Americans.
根据《开阔的国家》报道，这一传统很可能是把德国的玻璃饰品卖到美国的一种销售策略。
It was said to be concocted by F.W. Woolworth when the store began importing the ornaments in 1880. Each one would come with a card that told the story of the tradition.
Whether the tradition is real or manufactured, pickle ornaments have become quite ubiquitous.
不管这个传统来自真实事件，还是被杜撰的，在圣诞树挂腌黄瓜状饰品已经非常流行。
While whimsical foodie ornaments shaped like avocado toast, hot sauce, pancakes, and ramen have become popular in recent years, pickle ornaments aren't just a fad.
A special exhibition will be held by China's Palace Museum to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, Xinhua reports.
据新华社报道，为庆祝即将到来的春节，故宫博物院将举办一场特别展览。
Starting January 6, , the first of the twelfth lunar month in Chinese calendar, a record-breaking number of around 1,000 antique items will reportedly be displayed at the famed museum.
本次展览将于1月6日开幕，正值农历腊月初一，破纪录的近千件文物将在这个著名的博物馆展出。
The former record is currently held by the 1935 International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, where 735 antiques from the museum were showcased.
之前的纪录是由1935年在伦敦举行的“中国艺术国际展览会”保持的，共展出了735件文物。
The exhibition will be divided into six areas, fully displaying the customs of the Chinese New Year during the Qing Dynasty, with an open area decorated with historical customs of the dynasty and restored “royal” festival celebration activities.
“The exhibition will not only present the visitors with antique collections, but will also allow the audience to immerse themselves in the cultural atmosphere of ancient China,” said Shan Jixiang, curator of the museum.
an entirely new phase of existencea butterfly idleness;nothing to do, nobody to be responsible to, and untroubled with financial uneasiness...San Francisco was Paradise to me. I lived at the best hotel, exhibited my clothes in the most conspicuous places, infested the opera...I spend monty with a free hand, and meantime watched the stock sales with an interested eye.
尤其是后面两个句子，说花钱大手大脚，就是“spend money with a free hand“非常形象的表达，如果说挥金如土可以写成 squander money like water 但是最为美丽的是后面却用了一个interested eye 这个表达方法。
infeste the opera也是一个非常有意思的说法，infest有两个含义，第一是：to spread or swarm in or over in a troublesome manner 比如 a slum infested with crime就是说一个犯罪成灾的贫民窟，再比如 shark-infested waters说这片水域里面鲨鱼非常多。
第二个是 to live in or on as a parasite 像寄生在。。。。。上面似的。如果说某人对。。。非常上瘾，就可以说infest
...actually seldom do I have free time because I spend much time in working and learning. Learning is a life-long process. I learn music, language, and movie. Nevertheless, occasionally, I enjoy the butterfly idleness. It is an entirely new phase of existence. However, I am not the one who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth so I dare not to spend the money with a free hand...
关于评分标准，OG (Official Guide官方指南)上都有详细的说明，ETS以下列3点作为自己的评分准则： Delivery: How clear your speech is. Good responses are those in which the speech is fluid and clear, with good pronunciation, natural pacing, and natural-sounding intonation patterns. Language Use: How effectively you use grammar and vocabulary to convey your ideas. Raters will be looking to see how well you can control both basic and more complex language structures and use appropriate vocabulary. Topic Development: How fully you answer the question and how coherently you present your ideas. Good responses generally use all or most of the time allotted, and the relationship between ideas and the progression from one idea to the next is clear and easy to follow.
Independent task 1是Free Choice题，要求考生就某一常规话题用英语做45秒钟的陈述。考生对于这道题的准备应主要集中在people、place、object、event (人、地、物、事)这几个大方面。建议考生扎实准备OG、Longman 综合教程以及口语特训等教材上的题目，虽然在考试时直接考到它们的几率并不大，但是在复习过程中准备过的具体内容在考场上的作用却非常大。比如 “Describe the place you live in”与“Which city do you travel to most”、“Who is the person you admire most”与“Whom would you choose to visit for one hour”就可以相互借用大部分内容。
Independent task 2是Paired Choice题，也就是要求考生在提供的两个选择中选择自己喜欢的一个，并用details和examples支持自己的观点。如“ If you could choose to live in the city or live in the country areas, which lifestyle would you prefer and why”，考生需要做的是迅速确定自己的立场，其余的按照 Free Choice的准备就可以了，同时比Free Choice更好的表述是考生可以采用“抨击”另一种观点的方式来准备details，如考生可以陈述live in the city的不好来表达自己的观点I prefer to live in the country。但是，本题在某些时候以“Do you agree or disagree”或者“compare and contrast”的形式出现，对于后者而言，考生不必表明自己的观点，只要陈述出两种选择的可比之处并加以诠释就可以了。
Integrated Tasks题型
第3～6题主要考查考生对于题目的认知程度，并依据reading和listening部分做好的notes进行有条理的、清晰的复述，或者加上自己的观点。对于考生来说，一定要充分理解题目，熟悉考题要求，充分理解它们分别要求自己做什么事情。首先，ETS 明确3、4题都不允许有任何的personal view，因此不允许出现“I think (I believe, I presume, I consider...)”或“As far as I’m concerned...”、“In my opinion...”之类的表达方式。而第5、6题则可根据具体要求加入考生的个人观点。
