托福口语节日素材：腊八节
其实中国有很多的传统节日，掌握这些节日的由来，节日的习俗等等，也可以成为我们托福口语考试中很好的素材。今天我们重点来讲解的是腊八节的相关内容，供大家参考。
腊八节的由来
Folktales(民间传说、民间传说) abound as to the origins of eating congee during Laba Festival. According to the most famous one, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang (reigned 1368-1399), used to herd cattle(放牛) for a rich man. One day, his carelessness caused a leg of one of the cows to be broken. The rich man was so angry that he locked up the culprit(犯人)in a small room and didn’t allow food to be given to him. After some time, the famished (极饥饿的)Zhu Yuanzhang found in a corner of the room a rat hole that contained a supply of stolen red beans, rice, red dates and other produce. These he boiled into congee, on which he feasted voluptuously. Because that day was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang named the congee Laba Congee.
关于腊八节喝粥的起源，民间故事比比皆是。最著名的一个,明朝的开国皇帝朱元璋(1368 - 1399年在位)，小时候给财主放牛，因牛腿摔断被财主关在一间屋子里，不给他饭吃， 过了一段时间，快要饿死的朱元璋在屋子的角落里发现了一个老鼠洞，从中挖掘出红豆、大米、红枣等各种粮食，煮成粥食用，觉得非常香甜。因为这一天是农历的十二月八日,皇帝朱元璋将它命名为腊八粥。
腊八粥
Chinese people believe that eating congee during Laba festival will bring good luck. Laba Congee is infused with(充满了) Chinese people’s beautiful expectations of a happy life.
中国人相信腊八节喝腊八粥会带来好运，腊八粥充满着中国人民对幸福生活的美丽期望。
不同地区腊八粥的用料虽有不同，但基本的八种原料包括：
腊八蒜
In North China there is a custom of pickling garlic(浸泡大蒜) in vinegar on Laba Day. After some pickling, the garlic will turn green. This pickled garlic goes very well with dumplings. In Chinese, the words “garlic” and “calculate” have the same pronunciation; therefore, eating garlic on Laba Day is symbolic of reckoning(计算) the year’s income and expenses as year-end approaches.
在中国的北方有一个习俗，在腊八节的时候把蒜泡到醋中，经过醋的浸泡后，蒜会变的通体碧绿。经过醋泡过的蒜和饺子一起吃更配哦~在中国“蒜”与“算”同音，随着年底的临近，在腊八节那天吃蒜是计算整年收支的象征。
腊八面
Because northerners like foods made from wheat flour, they eat Laba noodles on Laba Day.
因为北方人喜欢吃小麦面粉做的食物，所以在腊八节那天他们吃腊八面。
煮“五豆”
In some areas, people boil five kinds of beans and make a dough (面团)in the shape of sparrow’s head on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month. They believe if they eat “sparrow heads”, the sparrows will have headaches and not harm their crops in the coming year.
有一些地区，人们在农历十二月初八那天煮五种豆子，并将面团揉成一个麻雀的头的形状。人们相信如果吃“麻雀头”，麻雀就会头疼，来年它们就不会伤害农作物。
