作者序一
I have always enjoyed holidays! As a child I looked forward to each one with joyful anticipation! There were some traditions that were the same every year. My favorites were Christmas and Thanksgiving because we shared them with lots of family and friends. Now that my husband and I have our own children, we have tried to come up with our own traditions. Hopefully, our kids will look back on these holidays with wonderful memories.
In writing this book, I loved learning about the Asian holidays and the traditions associated with them. A few years ago my family was in Taiwan during Chinese New Year. It was a great experience to see how a different country celebrates a part of their culture.
May you enjoy learning to speak English better as you learn about some western holidays in this book. Talk about them with your family and friends! Speaking English is the best way to learn it.
我總是很喜歡假期的! 當我還是孩子的時候,我期待著每個愉快的活動參與!有些節日的傳統是每年都有的。我最喜歡的節日是耶誕節與感恩節,因為我們可以和許多的家庭和朋友們一起分享。現在,我的先生和我有我們自己的小孩了,我們也已經試著發想出屬於我們自己的傳統。希望我們的孩子在回想這些節日時會有著美好的回憶。
寫這本書的同時,我喜愛學習有關亞洲的節日和與它們有關的傳統。幾年前,我們全家在台灣過中國新年。這是一個很棒的經驗來看一個不同的國家慶祝其文化中的一部分。
當你在本書中學習到一些西方節日時,希望你能高興地學習將英語由此說得更好。可以和您的家人和朋友聊一聊!最好的英語學習方式就是勇敢地說出英語來!
Melanie Venekamp
作者序二
在雪梨唸書時,養成了一個習慣,每年在拿到學校新的行事曆後,總是會認真的加填上台灣的重要節日。對於在外求學的遊子而言,這些節日總是會引起滿滿的鄉愁,所以在這些節日中組織聚會,彼此互相加油打氣,是大家行事曆中的重點事項。回台工作之後,因為工作性質的關係,我的行事曆上又加入了美國的重要節日,而也時常遇到外籍朋友詢問我一些有關我們的傳統節日由來。每當這個時候,我就會發現自己好像不夠了解這些節日,有只知其一,不知其二的茫然感。相對於外籍朋友在談起他們的節日時的侃侃而談,像是準備了演講稿似的,我的心虛感就不斷的上升。但在這些討論的過程中,讓我發現到有些被我們視為理所當然的節日習俗,往往是節日的精髓所在,也讓我見識到更多東西方節日的不同面貌。我將我和朋友們所討論及我所認識的節日面貌寫進這本書,希望能對大家在和朋友或是孩子們在介紹及討論這些節日能有所助益。
陳欣慧