【素材】Unit 2 Section A 文档It’s time for mooncakes（人教）.docVIP

It’s time for mooncakes! 中秋节是中国的传统节日。月饼是中秋节餐桌上不可或缺的美食。关于月饼，都有哪些传说呢？一起来看看吧！ Chinese people celebrate many important festivals. One of them is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is on the 15th day of the 8th month on the traditional Chinese calendar. It is a time to celebrate the harvest (丰收), get together and enjoy mooncakes. There is a legend which explains the tradition of eating mooncakes. Long ago, during the Yuan dynasty, a group led by Zhu Yuanzhang planned to revolt (起义). They used mooncakes to pass on secret messages. They hid the secret messages in the mooncakes. The messages told when and where people should fight. The revolt was a success. It happened at the time of the full moon, which explains why people now eat mooncakes at this time. Today, people still use mooncakes to pass on messages. They are on the mooncake or on the box of the mooncake. People tell stories during the Mid-Autumn Festival. One story goes like this: In a small village, two brothers each got a mooncake. Older Brother ate his cake in a hurry. Then, he said, “Younger Brother, would you like me to make your mooncake look more like the moon?” Younger Brother was excited. He gave his mooncake to Older Brother. Older Brother quickly took a bite (一口) of the mooncake. Younger Brother began to cry. Older Brother said, “You do not like your crescent moon (新月)? Here, let me give you a half moon.” Then Older Brother ate the ends of the crescent. Younger Brother was very upset. Older Brother explained, “After the full moon, the moon gets smaller. Then it disappears and can’t be seen anymore — just like your mooncake.” Then Older Brother quickly ate the rest of Younger Brother’s mooncake and ran away!