加拿大推崇多元文化,节假日也因民族的众多,地区的差异而数不胜数,全国性的节假日有下述几个。

  新年(New Year's Day),每年1月1日。

  爱尔兰节(Saint Patrick's Day),3月17日。Saint Patrick是爱尔兰人尊崇的圣人。他帮助爱尔兰人将害人的蛇驱赶进汪洋大海。绿色是这个节日的象征。人们尽可能地穿绿色服装,喝绿啤酒。

  复活节( Easter Sunday),3月21日后月圆以后的第一个星期日。本来是庆祝耶酥复活的宗教节日,但目前宗教气氛已逐渐淡化;最特征化的物品是象征生命力的彩蛋和兔宝贝。

  维多利亚日(Victoria Day),5月24日是英国女王维多利亚的生日。

  国庆节(Canada Day),7月1日(国家成立于1867年)。各大中城市组织上街游行狂欢,晚上燃放焰火。

  劳动节(Labor Day),9月份第一个星期一。在多数加拿大人的概念中,此节日标志着夏天的结束。

  感恩节(Thanksgiving Day),10月份第二个星期一。南瓜饼是常见的感恩节食物,火鸡是感恩节的标志吉祥物。

  停战纪念日(Remembrance Day),11月11日。为纪念死于两次世界大战和朝鲜战争中的将士,但现在已变成纪念所有死于战争的人的一天,人们照常工作,在当天11:00全国默哀片刻。

  圣诞节(Christmas Day),12月25日,其过法与别的国家无二。

  节礼日(Boxing Day),过完圣诞的第二天,也就是12月26日(如遇星期天则顺延一天),大家余兴未消,又进入了节礼日。本节日始于英国,传统上是向邮递员等送礼的日子。

      拓展阅读:

  My Vacation

  My vacation was very interesting. I did my homework on the first day. Then I played table tennis on the second day. On the third day, I watched TV and went shopping on the fourth day. But I liked my going shopping best.

  On Sunday, I went to a shopping center with my mother. The shopping center wasn't far from my home. It took us about ten minutes to get there on foot. The shopping center was very big. There were all kinds of things. Every day a lot of people go there to buy things. It opens at eight in the morning and closes at nine at night. Now, I was helping my mother buying things. I had a shopping list in my hand. We were looking for things on the shopping list. After staying in the shopping center for about two hours, we got all the things and walked home.

  What did you do when you were on vacation?

    1. What did the writer do on the second day in vacation?
  A. Did her homework. B. Played table tennis.
  C. Played computer games. D. Watched TV.

  2. On Sunday, the writer went to with her mother.
  A. buy some things B. a shopping center far away
  C. a restaurant near her house D. a museum

  3. It took the writer to get the shopping center.
  A. less than 10 minutes on foot B. more than 10 minutes on foot
  C. 10 minutes by bike D. less than 12 minutes on foot

  4. According to this passage, how did the writer felt about her vacation?

  5. Please describe the shopping center with your own words.

  答案:
  1. B
  解析:文中第一段指出,在假期的第一天作者写了作业,第二天打了乒乓球。B选项正确。
  2. A
  解析:文中第二段指出,在周日的时候他和妈妈一起去了离家不远的购物中心买东西。B选项错在far away,不选。所以我们只能选择A,作者和妈妈去买东西。
  3. D
  解析:文中第二段指出,作者用了大概十分钟的时间走到购物中心,这里的about并不能使我们知道到底是多于十分钟还是少于十分钟。但我们可以知道比十二分钟要短。
  4、She thought it was very interesting and she liked her vacation very much.
  解析:文章开头便指出了作者认为自己的假期非常有意思。
  5、It was near the writer's house and was very big. There were all kinds of things in it. Too many people went there to buy things every day.
  解析:我们只要把第二段讲述的购物中心的特征摘出来即可。该购物中心大、人多、东西也多。  解析:由最后一段全段可知作者喜欢参加这些活动,并指出了这些活动的好处 

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