EP.27 年獸的故事/The Story of The Nian Monster

歡迎大家跟Bear老師一起學英文，也多了解中華文化。由於Bear老師還有學校教職，比較忙碌，因此每7~10天才更新一次喔！如果需要PDF文字檔或想知道更多關於每集的英語小知識，請追蹤Bear老師的FB「Bear老師的中英雙語故事」或 IG「bear.bilingual」。

背景音樂：喜慶：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2YKj_uU_Eg&t=490s/鋼琴：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9KEASi-tas


Hello, This is Teacher Bear，我是 Bear老師。
小朋友，農曆新年快到了(The Chinese New Year is coming)！你開心嗎(Are you happy)？可是，其實在很久很久以前，華人並不喜歡過新年(In fact, a long time ago, Chinese people didn’t like to celebrate the New Year)，因為，「年」其實是一隻非常可怕的怪獸，大家都叫牠「年獸」(because "Nian" was actually a very scary monster. Everyone called it the "Nian Monster")。在每年農曆12月30號除夕的晚上，牠會從海裡爬出來找東西吃(Every year on the night of New Year's Eve, on December thirtieth in the lunar calendar, it would crawl out of the sea to find something to eat)，只要看到什麼活著的東西，都會吃下肚子裡去(It would eat anything alive it saw )。

這一天，農曆12月30號又到了，一大早，大家忙著往山裡面跑，就是希望年獸來的時候不要被牠吃了(December thirtieth of the lunar calendar came again. Early in the morning, everyone was busy running into the mountains, hoping that they wouldn’t be eaten by the Monster)。 可是，王家的老太太不願意離開(However, the old lady of the Wang family was unwilling to leave)。因為去年她的兒子被年獸吃了(Because her son was eaten by the Monster last year)，她說：「我要替兒子報仇(I will avenge my son’s death)。

時間越來越晚，年獸就快要醒過來了(It was getting later and later, the Monster was about to wake up)。王太太在家裡等著準備好好地和年獸打一架(Mrs. Wang was waiting at home, preparing for a fight with the Monster)，忽然「叩叩叩」，一陣敲門聲響起(Suddenly , there was a knock on the door)。王太太走過去開了門，看到是一位冷得發抖的老先生(Mrs. Wang went to open the door and saw an old man shivering with cold)，老先生說：「這位太太，我又冷又餓，能不能請你給我一點吃的東西啊(Madam, I am cold and starving. Could you please give me something to eat)？」王太太馬上請這位老先生進屋子裡坐下，還給他做了一頓飯菜 (Mrs. Wang immediately invited the old man in to have a seat, and cooked a meal for him )。吃飽的老先生開心地謝謝王太太，並且問她(After he was full, the old man thanked Mrs. Wang happily, and said)：「這位太太啊！這裡怎麼只有你一個人啊？其他人呢(Madam! Why are you alone here? Where are the others)？」王太太把自己的情況說給了老先生聽，沒想到老先生聽了以後哈哈大笑(Mrs. Wang told the old man about her situation, unexpectedly, the old man laughed loudly when he heard this )，他說：「年獸有什麼可怕的(Why do we need to be scared of the Monster)？我教你一個辦法(I'll teach you a method)，你去找一些竹子還有紅色的紙來(Go find some pieces of bamboo and red papers)。」王太太雖然不相信他，可是，還是把竹子跟紅紙拿來了(Although Mrs. Wang didn't believe him, she still brought the bamboo and red papers)。只見老先生把紅色的紙貼在門上，並且告訴王太太，年獸來的時候，馬上燒竹子(The old man pasted red papers on the door, and he told Mrs. Wang that when the Monster came, she must burn the bamboo immediately)。

到了半夜(In the middle of the night)，年獸一步一步慢慢地爬到陸地上來了(Step by step, the Monster slowly crawled onto the land)！一家一家地找東西吃(House by house, it went looking for something to eat)，餓得不得了的年獸發現什麼東西都沒有了，氣得不得了(The starving monster got very angry when it found nothing to eat)。沒過多久，年獸來到了王太太家門口(Before long, the Monster came to the door of Mrs. Wang's house)，王太太馬上燒起了竹子，竹子被燒得霹靂啪啦響(Mrs. Wang immediately burned the bamboo, which made a crackling noise)。年獸痛得大叫(The Monster screamed in pain)：「那個紅色的東西是什麼啊？看得我的眼睛好疼啊(What is that red thing? It hurts my eyes)！這是什麼聲音啊？我的耳朵快受不了啦(What is this noise? My ears can't take it anymore)！」年獸的眼睛和耳朵越來越痛(The Monster’s eyes and ears hurt more and more)，牠越來越害怕(it became more and more scared)，就這樣，很快地逃回了海裡，再也不敢出來吃人了(And then, it quickly fled back into the sea, and never dared to come out to eat people again)。

王太太開心地正想謝謝老先生，老先生卻已經不見了(Mrs. Wang happily wanted to thank the old man, but the old man had disappeared)。第二天，大家都下山，看到王太太一點事都沒有，驚訝地問王太太昨天晚上的情況(The next day, everyone came down from the mountains and went home. Seeing that Mrs. Wang was fine, they were surprised and asked Mrs. Wang what happened last night)。聽了王太太的故事以後，大家都說那位老先生一定是個神仙，他是來幫助大家的(After hearing Mrs. Wang’s story, everyone said that the old man must be an angel, and he was here to help everyone)。從那天起，每到農曆新年，大家就在門上貼紅紙、燒竹子(From that day, every Chinese New Year, everyone pasted red papers on the door and burned bamboo)，漸漸地，就變成了貼春聯、放鞭炮(in time, this became the pasting of Spring Festival couplets and setting off firecrackers)。

小朋友，現在你只需要好好地享受農曆新年，不必再擔心年獸了。還有，今年是兔年，你知道怎麼用英文祝福別人「兔年行大運」嗎？
“Wish you good luck in the year of the rabbit.”
請跟Bear老師再說一次。
“Wish you good luck in the year of the rabbit.”

小朋友，祝你兔年行大運(Wish you good luck in the year of the rabbit)！
我們下次見嘍(See you next time)！
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