学文网几千年来,燃放烟火是中国节日喜庆的象征。春节即将来临,大家又可以感受到这种熟悉的热闹气氛啦!在欣赏璀璨的烟火之时,你有否想过它的历史和产生原理呢?本期“探索区”将为你揭开个中奥秘。
另外,在燃放烟花爆竹、沉浸在喜悦当中的同时,千万要注意安全哦!建议大家还是到指定地点观看专业的烟花表演――这些表演更加安全,规模浩大,效果一流,场面绝对壮观!
All across this vast country, the Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is greeted by fireworks displays both great and small. One of the biggest is in the 1)teeming city of Hong Kong, where tons of explosives are prepared for their release into the night air.
Nowhere on the planet are fireworks so much a part of a people’s culture as they are in China, where they’ve been in use for more than 2,000 years. The active 2)ingredient in fireworks is gunpowder. The story goes that the Chinese accidentally created it when 3)saltpetre, 4)sulfur and 5)charcoal were heated together over a fire, leading to the creation of a 6)flakey black powder. The Chinese called this mixture “Huo Yao,” meaning “fire chemical.” They packed it into a length of bamboo, 7)ignited it and fireworks were born.
Fireworks were quickly taken to heart by the Chinese. No New Year celebration, no matter how humble, is complete without a dragon dance and a fireworks display. At dawn on New Year’s Day, fireworks are let off in the streets of towns and villages all across China. The fireworks are wrapped in red paper because Nian, the mythical beast of the New Year, is said to be afraid of red and the noise the firecrackers make. This is one of the reasons why red is considered a lucky colour by the Chinese.
Despite China’s enduring love of fireworks, there are huge numbers of 8)casualties every New Year, so the country’s lawmakers banned them from many of its major cities in the early 1990’s. But the public’s 9)attachment to tradition made it nearly impossible to enforce this law, and most cities have since 10)reversed it.
In Hong Kong, more than one million people turn out 11)annually for the explosive countdown to another year. And all across China, many millions more enjoy this centuries-old celebration.
春节期间,在中国广阔的大地上,各地都以大大小小的烟花表演来迎接这个节日的到来。其中最大的一场烟花表演在繁华的都市――香港举行,数以吨计的炸药等待着在夜空绽放。
世界上没有一个地方像中国这样,烟花在其民族文化中拥有如此重要的分量。中国人使用烟花已经有两千多年的历史。烟火的有效成分是火药。据说火药是中国人意外发明的――他们把硝石、硫磺和炭一起放在火上加热,产生了一种片状的黑色粉末,中国人把这种混合物称作“火药”,意思是“火的化学物”。他们把它装进一个竹筒里点燃,烟花从此诞生了。
烟花很快受到中国人的欢迎,再怎么低调的新年庆祝活动都少不了舞龙和烟花表演。在新年当天的黎明,中国城乡各地的大街小巷里都在燃放烟花鞭炮。烟花被红纸包裹着,因为据说传说中的神秘年兽――“年”害怕红色和鞭炮发出的响声。这也是中国人认为红色是一种幸运颜色的原因之一。
虽然中国人对烟花的热爱经久不衰,但是每个新年都有许多人因为燃放烟花爆竹而受伤,因此在20世纪90年代初,立法机构下令禁止在国内许多大城市燃放烟花爆竹。然而,民众对传统难以割舍的情结使这项法令几乎无法执行,因此大多数城市后来撤销了这项
规定。
在香港,每年有一百多万人前来参加新一年的烟花汇演倒数,而在全中国各地,成千上万人都在享受着这种古老的庆祝活动带来的欢乐。
燃放烟花安全注意事项
阅读烟花上面的安全说明。
在身边准备一桶水或接好水龙头。万一发生意外,可以快速找到水源扑救。
检查附近是否有易燃物,如干草坪、木材建筑等。
确保观看人员不在烟花触及范围之内。
如果点燃烟花后没有引爆,不要再去点它。
用过的烟花最好用水将它们彻底熄灭。
每次只点燃一个烟花。
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