extend their New Year Greetings. The celebration usually lasts until the 15th day, the Lantern Festival.

Task 2: Short Talk

Prepare a short talk about a festival moment you have experienced or an unusual or interesting celebration you have had or seen. Then give the talk in pairs.

The most unforgettable celebration I have had on campus was my 20th birthday. I was a freshman then and was away from home for the first time. I missed home very much especially when my birthday was coming near, because my parents usually celebrated my birthday for me. On the morning of my birthday, nothing seemed special except some birth-day cards sent by my former classmates. That after-noon, I was in my dormitory and unexpectedly my parents came. They traveled a long way to this city I am studying in, bringing with them a birthday cake to celebrate my birthday. Mixed feeling came upon me when I saw them, tired but happy after a six-hour ride on bus. I had thought of receiving a phone callfrom my parents but I had never expected that they would bother to go that extra mile to make my birthday happy and memorable. Although we all have birthdays and we celebrate our own and those of friends many times in the course of our lifetime, I will never forget my first birthday I have had on campus because it always reminds me of my parents’ love for me.

Task 3: Story Telling

Read the directions on page 67 look at the picture and speculate on Spring Festival celebrations on Mars

New Activities on Mars

This year is our first festival on Mars. One of the differences I noticed was the celebration on Mars was not as noisy as that on the earth. We were instructed by the security bureau days before the festival that fireworks were strictly prohibited. In fact they don’t need to worry about that because the space shuttle does not allow us to bring fireworks to Mars. Maybe they were worried about bootlegs who smuggled fireworks to our space station. …

For more information about Mars, read:

1. The Sands of Mars by A.C. Clarke (1917- )

2. Red Planet by R.A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

3. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1920- )

4. Mars, Return to Mars by Ben Bova (1932- )

5. Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson (1952- )

6. The Martians by Kim Stanley Robinson (1952- )

Part 3 Reading Comprehension

Discuss the following questions.

1. Do you like the Spring Festival best?

2. Do you think it is less festive than before?

3. Do you think it’s necessary to keep our traditional culture?

4. What should we do to keep the most important traditional Chinese festival—the Spring

Festival?

Lunar New Year

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first