The Easter Egg

复活蛋

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

与复活兔和复活节一样，复活蛋预示着圣诞节的即将到来。当基督教徒庆祝第一个复活节后，人们开始春天互相交换复活蛋，而这已成为了人们好几百年的习俗。

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

在早期，复活蛋许多文明中象征着"再生"。人们常常用金色的叶子包裹复活蛋，或是农民的做法：将复活蛋画得色彩斑斓，并把它和叶子或是真花瓣一起煮沸。

Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

在今天，孩子们到处搜刮复活蛋，并将这些蛋放到复活节篮子中。为什么呢？他们只是为了复活蛋的现代意义：复活蛋是由软糖或巧克力做的。