牛津英语译林9A精英班( Unit 1)拓展培优训练(教师(6)

9A Unit 1精英班拓展培优训练（教师版+学生版）

Cool autumn

As it is said in an ancient book, "It is on the Autumn Equinox day that the Yin and Yang are in a balance of power. Thus the day and night are of equal length, and so are the cold and hot weather. ”Since the Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China have entered the cool autumn. The temperature will drop frequently.

Eating qiucai

In South China, many people will have qiucai（autumn vegetable）on the Autumn Equinox day. Qiucai is a kind of wild amaranth（苋菜）.

Every Autumn Equinox day, all the villagers go to pick qiucai in the wild. Then it is taken back and made into soup with fish, named Qiutang（autumn soup）. People believe the whole family will be safe and healthy after drinking the soup.

Standing eggs on end

On Autumn Equinox day, there are thousands of people in the world trying to make eggs stand on end. This Chinese custom has become the world's game.

It is believed, on this day, the day and night are of equal time both in the southern and northern hemispheres. Thus it is a time well suited for standing eggs on end.

Sacrificing（献祭）to the moon

Originally, the festival of sacrificing to the moon was set on the Autumnal Equinox day.

According to historical records, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, the ancient kings sacrificed to the sun on the Spring Equinox, and to the moon on the Autumn Equinox.

But since it is not a fixed day in lunar August, there might be no full moon on the Autumnal Equinox. During the festival, if there was no moon to make sacrifices to, it would spoil（破坏）the fun. Thus, people changed it to the Mid-Autumn Day.

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