七夕“乞巧的风俗由来已久,年轻女孩子们在这一天乞求的,不仅仅是巧夺天工的好手艺,还会乞求一段美好姻缘。似乎是TVB剧中经常出现七夕之夜女子祈求姻缘的桥段~不知道今年七夕,有多少人会在星空之下默默祈祷呢?
On that night, unmarried girls prayed to the Weaving Maid star for the special gift. When thestar Vega was high up in the sky, girls performed a small test by placing a needle on thewater's surface: If the needle did not sink, the girl was considered to be ready to find ahusband. Once a year, on this day, girls could wish for anything their hearts desired。
七夕之夜,未婚女子通常会向织女星乞巧,也会乞求姻缘。她们将一根针放在水面上,倘若针不下沉的话,她们就能得偿所愿。据说这一晚女孩子们能祈求任何心愿成真。
这里“乞巧的这个“乞,我们可以说beg,也可以用plead这个词,plead to be endowed with perfectsewing skills. 貌似这两个词都和浪漫气氛不符哦,plead其实更常见于法庭上,律师为某人辩护,就是plead one's case;而那句我们耳熟能详的“不认罪,则是plead not guilty,反之“认罪就是pleadguilty——注意这里的用法,比较特殊哦,是在动词plead后面直接加形容词guilty——法官就会经常问这句话:Do you plead guilty or not guilty?你可认罪?也有一个更常见的情况,就是被告人pleadinsanity,以精神失常为借口,试图减轻刑罚。
回到七夕乞巧的风俗吧,乞巧是为了精进自己的女红手艺,女红(注意啊注意啊,这里的“红读音是“工,不要读错了哦)也就是针线活,用英语说就是doing needlework。印象中女红活儿就是刺绣(embroider)吧,不知道现在还有多少女孩子会刺绣活儿呢?似乎大家都更prefer简单易学的十字绣 (cross-stitch)了。那么,学十字绣的话,也是需要乞一下巧的吧……
至于祈求姻缘,这个恐怕还是要看缘分哦,如果两个人是predestined to be together,那么是无论如何都会相遇并相爱的吧。在这里祝天下有情人终成眷属吧!(All shall be well, and Jack shall have Jill!)
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