作为与春节、清明节、中秋节并称的中国四大传统节日之一，端午节在国人心目中有着极其重要的地位。这一天，人们不仅要吃粽子，还要撒雄黄酒，赛龙舟，当然还有准备香囊，编五彩绳、挂菖蒲、蒿草等等。
比年来，随着中华文化在世界范围内的广泛传播，端午节也已不再局限于中国，逐渐成为一个国际性的节日。作为端午节的传统项目——赛龙舟已发展为世界性运动项目。走出国门的还有端午节的美食——粽子。据说，很多外国朋友第一次吃粽子，并不知道皮是不能吃的，一口咬下去……呃，连粽子叶都能咽下去，这是一种什么样的国际精力？！而现在，随着中华美食在世界流行，越来越的外国朋友开始喜欢上了美味的粽子。连外国人都开始过端午节了，作为中国人，我们对这个节日到底相识多少呢？你能用英语说出关于龙舟和粽子的典故吗？在《用英语讲中国故事》丛书里就能找到答案——
This is a jade with . The body of the is in the of a “ ,” . It was from the of of the in the area of the of Wu and Yue (on the of the ). The jade on this is of the , and it is a to the of the , who are to as the “ of Yue.”这是一件雕刻了龙纹的玉器。古朴的玉纹勾勒出蛟龙的身姿，正所谓大巧不工。这件玉器出土于吴越地区的良渚文化遗址群，刻玉者把这件玉器雕琢得精巧绝伦。它在默默描述着古越族一次又一次祭祖的场景。 “古越族 ”是古代百越地区越人各部的统称。
off hair and . They the “ of the .” On the day of the by the the Yue used to hold “ boat ,” was a - on the , for boat and the keen of the “ of the .” of men each row a boat with and in the of a – is why the them “ .” a of , the . The be into a riot of as the of each team oars in in time with a in the prow, as each crew to be the line. None of the felt , as they all felt that the “race” was a with the and an to .古越人断发文身，自称 “龙的后代 ”。每到农历五月初五，古越人就会 “龙舟赛舟 ”，开展大型水上祭祀活动，用赛舟赛舟的方式向自己的祖先传达敬意，并展示作为 “龙的后代 ”精锐朝上进步的精力。他们几人一组，坐在用水草装饰的木船中。船被雕刻成龙的形状，因此也被当地人称作 “龙舟 ”。一阵喧嚣过后比赛开始，平静的江面顿时水花四溅，坐在舟里的小伙子们互相配合着划桨。大家一边划船，一边踩着船头击鼓人的鼓点，争着抢着朝终点划去。没有人会觉得累，因为大家都认为“赛舟 ”是在与天神对话，呼唤祖先同行。
As time , the boat on the day of the an for the of Yue, a day of for the , high and low – the Boat .五月初五赛舟龙舟逐渐成为古越人每年必不可少的活动，因此古越人干脆就把五月初五设为一个全族上下庆祝的节日 ——端午节。
By the time of the (475-221 BC) a - grew up on the Jing . It was Chu. A Chu high- Qu Yuan (屈原 ) and laws for and an the of Qin as Chu’s . He was a man of rare in Chu, but his met with from the Chu , and he was - by the king of Chu to the and . the Qin army Qu Yuan’s city – . The king of Chu his , and fled in . This of and was too much for Qu Yuan to bear, and he his life by into the . That day was the day of the .跟随汗青的推移，时间来到了战国。那个时候在荆江一带有一个实力不弱不强的诸侯国楚国。楚国有一位三闾大夫名叫屈原。屈原在内政上主张选贤立法，外交上主张结合抗秦，是楚国不可多得的人才。可是，屈原的锋芒毕露遭到了楚国贵族的排挤，几次被楚王流放汉北、沅湘地区。最后，秦国的大将攻破了屈原日思夜想的故国首都郢都，楚王置江山社稷于不顾，仓皇而逃。集国恨家仇于一身的屈原悲痛欲绝，在汨罗江投江自尽，这一天正好是农历五月初五。
When they this , the of Chu to the bank of the to . As they up and down the , what them most was the of Qu Yuan’s body by fish and . 楚国百姓听说贤人大夫屈原投江自尽，纷纷赶到汨罗江畔悼念。百姓们在江边徘徊，最担心的是水中的鱼虾肆无忌惮地啃食屈大夫的身体。Then of rice in of the tree, and them in the . This way, the be too to with the of Qu Yuan. Then, upon this, a man in home to jars of , and them all into the . And when all this to the ’s , the man said, : “The wine will the fish, and . Qu Yuan can rest in .”这时候有人提议，不如用粽叶包裹一些饭团投入江中，这样鱼虾去吃饭团，不会来打搅屈大夫的真身了。一位药师闻讯后，赶忙跑来把自家酿制的雄黄酒一股脑地倒入汨罗江中，正当大家疑惑不解时，药师坦白道：“用药酒麻晕那些鱼龙水兽，屈大夫就可以睡踏实了。”
In the of the of the , the “ boat race” of the Yue a . From , on the day of the , the same day on Qu Yuan , have in and wine – the of his body – to Qu Yuan’s and . From this time on, they have held boat to wash away the of the year, and wine to the of Qu Yuan. The Boat has been down in this way from to to this day.在民族统一的过程中，古越人 “龙舟赛舟 ”的传统逐渐被汉人吸收。古有五月初五龙舟赛舟，屈原在同一天投江后，世人敬仰他的贤才和风骨，用粽子和雄黄酒保护他的真身。从此，大家在端午节这一天不仅通过龙舟赛舟洗涤一年的风尘，而且还吃粽子、喝雄黄酒来缅怀屈原先人，端午节的习俗就这样代代相传至今不断。
端午节 BOAT The boat , to have been for over 2,000 , on the day of the of the and in . It the of Qu Yuan (c340–278 b.c.), 's poet, who when his home of Chu was ; the boat the for his body. 端午节在农历 5 月 5 日，已有 2000 多年的汗青，中国各地和全球的华人共同庆祝。这个节日纪念的是中国第一位诗人屈原，他因故土楚国灭亡而投江自尽。龙舟赛舟的传统就是当时人们搜寻他的遗体而演化来的。
划龙舟 BOAT This is to the to fish away from Qu Yuan’s body so that it not be . Boat has into not only a , but also an .划龙舟象征着人们试图驱赶河鱼，不让它们吞吃屈原的身体。后来龙舟赛舟不但逐渐演化为端午的庆祝活动，也成为一项国际赛事。
粽子, or rice in , is in a way to that of Boat . To Qu Yuan’s body from by fish, feed the fish . Of , in , than the into the , eat them in of the . from also in and !粽子，糯米饭包在竹叶里的一种食物，和划龙舟有着异曲同工之妙的寓意。为了保护屈原的身体不被鱼吃掉，人们会用粽子喂鱼。当然，与其将美味的粽子投入河中，现今的我们选择在端午节时享用粽子。在不同的地区，粽子的风味及口感也有差异。
香包It is a to silk with and the . This is said to ward off and ( ) from evil and bad .这项习俗是人们会在端午节佩戴着五彩缤纷、内含药草香料的香包。传说中是为了要保护人们（尤其是孩童）不受到恶灵攻击。
雄黄酒" wine and away!" wine, or , is a of and .老话说：喝雄黄酒能够驱魔辟邪。雄黄酒由发酵的谷物和雄黄粉酿制而成。
咸鸭蛋 DUCK EGGS has it that it is good to eat duck eggs the Boat as the be . The duck eggs are -rich and have some on the of heat .传统认为，在端午节吃咸鸭蛋有益健康，因为灼热的夏天很快就要光降了。咸鸭蛋营养丰富，对治疗中暑有一定功效。
当我们在为日常生活忙碌奔波的时候，别忘了偶尔慢下来重拾那些传统的节日和习俗，与家人和朋友共同享受回归生活本身的美好。当你有机会出国留学，或者从事对外交流方面的工作，也别忘了，多多向那些巴望相识中国文化的外国友人讲讲我们中国文化的故事，我们中国文化之中有意思的中国故事，让外国人相识一下真实有趣的中国。