明天就是中國情人節七夕啦~
七夕在網上有很多種翻譯方法
Qixi Festival(七夕節)
Double Seventh Festival(雙七節)
Magpie Festival(喜鵲節)
其實這些翻譯都有捨近求遠之嫌
不了解中國文化的外國人是不會明白的
七夕節的地道英文究竟是啥？
話說七夕節，如果你用有道詞典查的話，肯定會看到下面四個詞條：
像這樣網絡詞典給出的網絡表達，我們不能拿來直接用，必須要先辨別對錯。
Tanabata
這個詞也是七夕的意思，但指的是日本的七夕節。維基百科這樣解釋道：
Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Evening of the seventh"), also known as the Star Festival, is a Japanese festival.
日本的七夕節起源於咱們中國的七夕，七夕是中國的情人節，可是在日本，卻和情人節沾不上什麼邊。和日本新年一樣，七夕可以許願，把心願寫在紙條上，然後掛在樹上。
除了日本，韓國也過七夕，英文是：Chilseok，英文解釋是這樣滴：a Korean traditional festival which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Korean lunisolar calendar。
那我們再來看看中國的七夕，英文就是什麼樣的呢？
中國七夕
一起來看維基百科對中國七夕節的介紹：
The Qixi Festival, also known as the Qiqiao Festival, is a Chinese festival that celebrates the annual meeting of the cowherd and weaver girl in Chinese mythology.
It falls on the seventh day of the 7th month on the Chinese calendar. It is sometimes called the Double Seventh Festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day, the Night of Sevens, or the Magpie(喜鵲) Festival.
七夕節的地道英文就是Qixi Festival，大意是：七夕節，又名乞巧節。該節日來自於牛郎與織女的傳說，在農曆七月初七慶祝。
這裡有個句型，我們需要學習或仿寫，如下：
It falls on the seventh day of the 7th month on the Chinese calendar.
七夕節在農曆七月初七。
當我們說某個節日在某月某日時，就能用這個句型了。此處的fall，還可以替換成take place。
怎麼用英語介紹這個故事呢？
小夥伴們，你們知道牛郎與織女的故事傳說有多少年了，是從哪個朝代開始有了這樣浪漫的故事呢？一起來看下文吧：
每年的農曆七月初七被稱為「七夕」。阿拉伯數字「7」在漢語中寫做「七」，而「夕」在古漢語中指夜晚，所以「七夕」的字面義就是農曆七月初七的晚上。
The day falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Seven is "qi" in Chinese, so that explains "qi" in the name of the festival. Xi means "night」in ancient Chinese, so "qixi" means the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month.
傳說天上的織女與牛郎相戀，便留在人間和他生兒育女。可是織女擅離天庭，私配凡人，觸怒了王母娘娘。於是她在天界劃了一道銀河，將牛郎織女拆散，一對有情人從此天各一方。
Lore holds the weaving goddess fell for a cow herder, and the pair ran away to live together. But her mother was furious, since gods and humans are forbidden to live together. So, shecreated the Milky Way to separate the couple.
幸運的是，一群喜鵲被二人的愛情感動，跨越銀河搭成鵲橋。從此，每逢農曆七月初七，牛郎織女便得以鵲橋相會。於是七夕就成了一年中牛郎織女重逢的日子。
Luckily, a flock of magpies was moved by their love and decided to form a bridge across the Milky Way to enable them to reunite every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. So they can see each other once a year on this special day.