在英國參加的篝火節(jié)

Last Saturday I went to see a bonfire at Burgess Hill town centre.I had heard from Hannah Wells that there would be a parade2 at 9:00am.On the day I was looking forward to it and was somewhat disappointed to find out that it would start at 6:00pm.At about 6:10pm I arrived in town feeling very exited.To my surprise it had not started yet. There were few people in the street. We didn't know where the parade was to take place. Then，I heard the sound of Scottish music coming from an alleyway3 next to a shop.The alleyway let us to the market place. A crowd was gathered but only the people who were taking part in the parade were there.

They were dressed in all kinds of fancy outfits4. There were composers， medieval5 knights6， monks7 and nuns8， Indians，ladies in the Middle Ages， and witches9 and wizards10 and even babies!We mingled11 among the crowd admiring12 their costume13. I liked the composers' costumes. They were from the Georgian times with powdery white wig and golden tailcoat complete with lacy14 cuffs15. The medieval knights were standing right next to us. They were wearing dazzling silver armour16 and holding shield17 and sword.

The audience gradually arrived.People chatted among themselves and many bought flashing toys，necklaces， earrings， hoops and balls. Little children were in high spirits playing with their toys.

By this time， it was dark. A loudspeaker rang out， telling the people which groups had come to perform at the festival. Groups from Hastings， Eastbourne， Little Hampton， Newhaven and many small towns and villages were all taking part.I was amazed that people from so many bigger places had come to the small town of Burgess Hill.

Finally the waiting was over. The truck with loudspeaker rolled forward slowly. The audience waved their flashing toys enthusiastically18. At the beginning of each group in the possession，there was a young man holding a sign bearing19 the logo or crest of the city they came from and burning torches20 on top.The first group was a band wearing traditional Scottish kilts，a kind of skirt，playing bagpipes21 and drums.They were from Burgess Hill. Next came people in costumes. One group dressed as babies in humongous22 nappies23 and with frilly24 bonnet25 holding very large dummies26 and bottles， which would be bigger than real babies themselves. They were very funny. One man tapped me on the head with his large 'milk bottle' made with fabric. Everybody in the parade was holding a flaming torch.It was a wooden stick of about a metre long with a flammable substance burning on top.There were also clowns27. They just had white and red paint on their faces and clowny outfits on. Each of them had a small white collection pot.They shook them as they walked past and people dropped pennies in. When the end of the parade went past，the crowd went to a different street to see it again.

Only this time there was something new.It was some big numbers standing on a massive frame carried by a group of men. The numbers were '118'， perhaps with the meaning of the 118th year for the festival. Each number is the size of a window and they were on fire!The night was a little chilly but when the burning numbers came near it suddenly became rather warm. A lot of people carried small， flaming torches and also there were some burning torches stuck to the side of the road.So the whole scene was like a mass of fire. The crowd watched the procession in awe28 and admiration.The burning numbers looked a bit dangerous but it was thrilling29 to watch. We saw the rest of the procession pass us again though I was not a bit bored.At the very end of the procession was a muddy，old farm tractor with blue flashing lights on top.Some boys were running behind it picking up the burning torches from the street and dunking them into barrels of cold water.

The bonfire festival was not exactly what I had expected but I went home thoroughly satisfied with what I had seen.

注釋：

1. bonfire n． 篝火，營火

2． paraden. (慶祝)游行

3. alleywayn. 小巷，小街

4. outfit n． (尤指在特殊場合穿的)全套服裝

5. medievaladj．中世紀(jì)的，中古(時代)的

6． knightn. 騎土

7． monkn.修道士，僧侶

8. nun n．修女，尼姑

9． witch n，女巫，巫婆

10． wizard n．男巫，術(shù)士

11. minglevi. 混合起來，相混合

12． admirevt． [口]稱贊，夸獎

13． costumen. (特定場合穿的)成套服裝

14． lacyadj．有花邊的，有帶子的

15． cuff n. 袖口

16． armour n． 盔甲

17． shieldn. 盾

18． enthusiasticallyadv． 熱烈地，滿腔熱情地

19． bear vt． 寫有，刻有，印有，繪有

20． torch n． 火把，火炬

21． bagpipen． (蘇格蘭等地的)風(fēng)笛

22． humongousadj． [俚]極大的，其大無比的

23． nappy n． 尿布

24． frilly adj． 有褶邊的，裝飾(性)的

25． bonnet n． (有帶子的)女帽，童帽

26． dummy n． (哄嬰兒的)橡皮奶頭

27． clown n． 小丑，丑角

28． awe n． (壯觀等引起的)驚奇，驚嘆

29． thriting adj． 令人激動的，充滿刺激的

上周六我到伯吉斯·希爾市中心參加了一次篝火節(jié)。在這之前，漢納·韋爾斯曾對我說，從早上9點(diǎn)起那兒會舉行游行活動。從那時起我就一直盼望著這個活動，但后來知道的消息讓我感到有點(diǎn)兒喪氣，因?yàn)檫@個活動要等到下午6點(diǎn)才開始。當(dāng)天下午約6點(diǎn)10分我來到了這個小城，心里特高興。奇怪的是活動還沒有開始。街上幾乎沒有人。我們不知道游行活動在什么地方舉行。就在那時，我聽到了從一家商店旁邊的一條小巷中傳來了蘇格蘭音樂。我們順著這條小巷走過去，便來到了當(dāng)?shù)氐募小Ｒ呀?jīng)有一群人在那兒集合、不過只是那些要參加游行活動的人。

他們都穿著各種各樣稀奇古怪的衣服。這些人里邊有作曲家、有穿著中世紀(jì)騎士服裝的人，那兒還有一些僧侶和修女、印第安人、穿著中世紀(jì)衣服的青年女子、男女巫師，甚至還有小孩呢!我們來到了這些人中間，對他們的服裝嘖嘖稱羨。我喜歡那些作曲家們所穿的衣服。他們的打扮還是英國喬治國王時代的樣子，頭上戴著撲了粉的白色假發(fā)，身上穿著金色的燕尾服，衣服的袖口上還裝飾著花邊。穿著中世紀(jì)騎士服裝的人就站在我們的旁邊。他們穿著閃閃發(fā)光的銀盔甲，手里還拿著盾牌和寶劍。

游人們也陸陸續(xù)續(xù)來到了這里。人們聊起天來，許多人還帶來了亮閃閃的玩具棒、項(xiàng)鏈、耳環(huán)、鐵圈和皮球。那些小孩們聚精會神地擺弄著自己的玩具。

這時，天黑了下來。喇叭響了起來，告訴游人們都有哪些團(tuán)隊來參加這次節(jié)日活動。這些團(tuán)隊來自黑斯廷斯、伊斯特本、利特爾漢普頓、紐黑文等大城市，還有其他許多來自小城鎮(zhèn)和山村的團(tuán)隊也來參加這次節(jié)日活動。這些人愿意從那么多的大地方跑到伯吉斯·希爾鎮(zhèn)這個小地方來，我對此感到驚訝。

我們的等候最終結(jié)束了。那輛裝了高音喇叭的卡車開始慢慢往前開。那些旁觀的游人熱烈地?fù)]舞著他們手中的玩具棒。在每個游行團(tuán)隊的前面，都有一個男青年領(lǐng)隊，這些領(lǐng)隊手中舉著一塊帶有標(biāo)識或飾物的標(biāo)牌說明該團(tuán)隊都是來自什么地方，標(biāo)牌上面還點(diǎn)燃了火把。首先出現(xiàn)的團(tuán)隊穿著傳統(tǒng)蘇格蘭短裙，他們吹著風(fēng)笛，還敲著鼓，他們來自伯吉斯·希爾鎮(zhèn)。接著來的人們都穿著滑稽的服裝，有一支隊伍裝扮成嬰兒的樣子，帶著碩大的尿布，戴著花邊帽子，手里還拿著一些比真小孩還大的奶嘴和奶瓶子。他們真是太好玩了。這支隊伍里的一個男子還用他的大“奶瓶”敲了下我的頭。他的“奶瓶”是用布做的。游行隊伍中的每個人手上都拿了一個點(diǎn)燃的火把。木制的火把桿的長度有一米左右，上面是可燃的東西正在燃燒。游行隊伍中還有小丑。這些小丑的臉上涂著白色和紅色的顏料，身上穿著小丑的衣服，手里拿著一個白色的討錢盤子。這些小丑們邊走邊搖動著他們的討錢盤，旁邊的游人就往盤子中扔便士。當(dāng)游行隊伍全部經(jīng)過后，旁觀的人群又趕緊跑到另外一條大街上去觀看。

此時游行隊伍變出了新花樣。有一大群人抬出了特別大的數(shù)字牌。這些數(shù)字牌標(biāo)著“118”，可能表示今年的游行活動是第118次的意思。每個數(shù)字都有一扇窗戶那么大，而且還燃燒著！那天晚上有點(diǎn)冷，但這些燃燒著的數(shù)字牌經(jīng)過我們的身邊時，我們一下子感覺到很溫暖。還有許多人手上拿著小一點(diǎn)的火把，道路兩旁也有不少燃燒著的火把。因此整個場面就變成了火的世界。旁觀的人群驚奇而羨慕地看著游行隊伍。那些燃燒著的數(shù)字牌看起來有點(diǎn)不安全，但卻讓人感到很刺激。余下的游行隊伍再次經(jīng)過我們身邊，我一點(diǎn)兒都沒感覺到厭倦。在游行隊伍的最后面，是一輛沾滿了泥巴的舊農(nóng)用拖拉機(jī)，拖拉機(jī)的車頂上亮著藍(lán)燈。一些小孩追在拖拉機(jī)的后邊，撿起那些還在燃燒著的火把，并把它們浸入裝著冷水的水桶中。

這次篝火節(jié)與我當(dāng)初所想像的樣子并不完全一樣，但看到了上面發(fā)生的一切，我還是心滿意足地回家了。