Happy-New-Year.doc

Happy New Year!
晒晒好玩的元旦习俗和庆祝方式。词数 475 建议阅读时间 9分钟

NEW Year’s Day is one of the oldest and most exciting days of the year around the world and different countries have their own traditions for welcoming in the new year. Below are just a few weird (怪异的) and wonderful New Year celebrations from across the globe.
By Jon Wolper, MCT
The US
Up to 1 million partygoers wait in the cold in Times Square, New York City to “watch the ball drop”. In this hundred-year-old American tradition, a giant ball of colored lights begins sliding down a pole (立柱) one minute before midnight. At the 10-second mark, the crowd, along with TV audiences across the country, start counting down “Ten! Nine! Eight!…” When the ball hits the ground, the new year has begun. People yell “Happy New Year!” and hug and kiss.
Brazil
In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, New Year’s Eve is all about lucky underpants (内裤). People go for red if they’re looking for love and yellow if they’re after some extra cash.
Finland
To celebrate New Year, some Finnish people cast molten tin (锡) into containers of water. When the tin hardens, they take its shape as a sign of how the coming year will go. For instance, a heart or ring shape indicates a wedding, and a pig shape often stands for lots of food. This custom also takes place in other European countries, including Austria and Germany – although here the pig means good luck.
Japan
Japanese people hang straw (稻草) rope across the front of their houses to keep out evil (邪恶的) spirits and bring happiness and good luck. They also make sure they have a good laugh as the year begins to get things started on a happy note.
Colombia
Burning “Mr Old Year” is a New Year’s tradition in some cities in Colombia. It requires the participation of the entire family. They make a big doll that represents the old year. Then they stuff it with things that they don’t want anymore and objects that bring sadness or bad memories. Sometimes they put fireworks inside to make it more exciting to burn. At midnight on New Year’s Eve, they set the doll on fire. This symbolizes burning the past and getting ready to start a happy New Year without bad memories.

Talk of the year
2011年的互联网热词，你知道多少？
THE list below includes the top ten hottest phrases used online last year, as released by Chinese online encyclopedia (百科全书), on December 20, 2011. Test yourself – how many do you know?

★校车
The school bus accident that happened in Gansu province on November 16, 2011 made this once ordinary phrase one of the most-used words online.
A nine-seater minibus stuffed (塞满的) with 64 people crashed headlong with a coal truck, killing 19 kindergarten students on their way to class along with their teacher and the bus driver. There followed a series of school bus accidents reported across China.
Due to these accidents, the government and the whole of society began to take measures to guarantee (确保) the safety of school buses.
★Hold住
The phrase was first used by Miss Lin (谢依霖)in an entertainment show in Taiwan in August 2011. Since then it has become one of the most popular phrases on the Internet and among young people.
Whenever you are faced with an emergency (紧急情况), are under a lot of pressure, or find yourself in an embarrassing situation, then this is the phrase to use. It means: “Keep calm and don’t panic”.
★占领华尔街

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement started as a way of showing frustration (失望) about high unemployment, corporate greed (企业贪婪), social inequality and other issues.
On September 17, 2011, a group of college students went to Zuccotti Park, a private square near Wall Street in New York, to show their anger at the US financial system. They thought the system was unfairly benefiting big companies and the rich. Occupy Wall Street soon grew into a worldwide movement. Then on November 15, the protesters (示威者) were expelled (驱逐) from Times Square.
Time magazine has chosen “The Protester” as its Person of the Year 2011.
★乔布斯
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56 after a seven-year-long battle with pancreatic cancer (胰腺癌).
As a successful businessman, Jobs’ passion (热情) and energy encouraged the world. His iPhone, iPad and iTouch are popular around the world. As a statement released by Apple said, “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives… The world is immeasurably (无法估量地) better because of Steve.”
PM2.5
PM2.5 are small particles (微粒) of pollution in the air with a diameter (直径) of within 2.5 micrometers. Human activity is the biggest cause of PM2.5 pollution, especially motor vehicle emissions (机动车尾气).
Chinese weather forecasting (预报) stations still use PM10, which measures particles with a diameter between 2.5 and 10 micrometers.
Some developed countries such as the US, Japan and Australia are using PM2.5 to check air quality. From next year, PM2.5 will be used to measure air quality in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and all capital cities of China’s provinces and provincial-level regions, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. From 2016, PM2.5 will be used to measure air quality across the country.21ST

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