大学英语六级听力练习bbc随身英语(7)

　　Preparations for Christmas 圣诞筹备 　　Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. 　　Christmas is the biggest festival in Britain and is celebrated on 25th December. The four weeks before Christmas are called Advent, and are traditionally celebrated in churches by lighting a candle each Sunday during Advent. 　　Nowadays, many people in Britain are not very religious, but they still celebrate Christmas. But watch out - the preparations begin long before Advent. In fact as early as September or October, you start to see signs that Christmas is on the way. 　　The first places to tell us that we should be thinking about Christmas are the shops. People in Britain spend on average over ?600 per person on Christmas every year, and the shops encourage people to spend more and more. 　　Shops put up Christmas decorations and play cheesy Christmas songs or carols; and some shop workers wear Christmas hats. Some big shops on Regent Street and Oxford Street in London create wonderful displays in their windows with moving characters, falling snow, colourful lights and music. 　　So what do people buy in preparation for Christmas? Well, Christmas decorations; Christmas cards to send to your friends and relatives; presents for your loved ones andwrapping paper to wrap them up with. 　　And of course food! Apart from the special Christmas dinner of roast turkey or goose, people buy lots of chocolates, nuts and snacks for everyone to enjoy. 　　But the children are the most excited that Christmas is coming. They start making lists of presents they would like, and give them to their parents, or send them to Santa Claus. In December, they can also open their Advent calendars. 　　Advent calendars are a way of counting down to Christmas. They have a window to open for every day from 1st 24th December . 　　A basic Advent calendar has a Christmassy picture behind each window, but the childrensfavourite is usually a chocolate Advent calendar, with a chocolate for every day of the month. Its a great build up to the overeating that goes on at Christmas! 　　GLOSSARY 词汇表 　　traditionally 　　传统上的 　　on the way 　　即将来临 　　on average 　　平均 　　per person 　　每一个人 　　encourage 　　鼓励 　　cheesy 　　俗套的

　　carols 　　圣诞颂歌 　　Christmas decorations 　　圣诞装饰 　　loved ones 　　亲人 　　wrapping paper 　　包装纸 　　apart from 　　除之外 　　snacks 　　小吃 　　Santa Claus 　　圣诞老人 　　calendars 　　日历 　　Christmassy 　　圣诞的 　　favourite 最喜欢的 　　最喜欢的 　　build up 　　累积 　　overeating 　　大吃大喝;过量吃喝