The Chinese Lion Dance 中國舞獅

張紫軒

The Chinese Lion Dance is much like the Chinese Dragon Dance. They are both important festivities1 for Chinese festivals， specially Chinese New Year. People think that they can bring good luck and drive away bad things. The difference between the two is that the Dragon Dance is performed2 by a group of 12 dancers， but the Lion Dances performed by only 2 dancers.

中國的舞獅和中國的舞龍很像。它們都是中國節(jié)日尤其是春節(jié)當(dāng)中重要的慶?；顒?。人們認(rèn)為它們可以帶來好運(yùn)和驅(qū)逐壞事。兩者的不同之處在于，舞龍是由十二名舞者組成，而舞獅是由兩名舞者組成。

The Lion Dancers need to move very quickly when they perform lots of difficult moves. One takes the head and the other takes the body of the Lion.

舞獅者在表演很多高難度動作時(shí)，動作要非常快。一個(gè)人負(fù)責(zé)獅子的頭部，另一個(gè)人負(fù)責(zé)獅子的身軀。

The Chinese Lion Dance start on New Years Day and keep going until the end of all festivities. During that time， the lion dancers run along the streets to bring good luck to everyone they meet. They visit many places， like stores， restaurants and businesses3...As they go， a “l(fā)aughing Buddha4” will go with them. That “l(fā)aughing Buddha” uses a fan5 to make lions perform those moves， like jump and sit down. And people along the way will throw6 red envelopes7 with money to the Lions mouth.

中國舞獅從元旦開始，一直持續(xù)到所有慶?；顒咏Y(jié)束。在這段時(shí)間里，舞獅隊(duì)在街上奔走，為他們遇到的每個(gè)人帶來好運(yùn)。他們走訪了許多地方，如商店、餐館和企業(yè)……當(dāng)他們表演的時(shí)候，一個(gè)“彌勒佛”會和他們一起表演。那個(gè)“彌勒佛”用扇子指揮獅子做一些動作，比如跳躍、坐下。而沿途的人們會把裝有錢的紅包扔到獅子的嘴里。

Businesses will hang8 some vegetables with the red envelope. The Lion group will have to get the green vegetables. Usually the dancer in the body position9 needs to help the dancer in the head position to get the greens. They “eat” the money and throw up the vegetables. They throw the fresh10 vegetables around to give out the good luck and also to mean a“fresh start” for the new year. Sometimes the greens are put on the floor for the lions， too.

商家會在紅色信封上掛一些蔬菜，獅子們要去拿這些綠色的菜。通常，身位的舞者需要幫助頭位的舞者拿到青菜。他們把錢 “吃”掉，把菜吐出來。他們把新鮮的青菜散出去，是為了送出好運(yùn)，也意味著新的一年有一個(gè)“新的開始”。有時(shí)，青菜也會被放在地上給獅子“吃”。

There are two kinds of lions. The Northern Lions are very difficult with the lions performing moves. In the Chinese New Year Temple Fairs11 in Beijing， Northern Lions performances are so interesting that many people would come to see.

獅子有兩種。北獅的表演動作極有難度。在北京的春節(jié)廟會上，北獅的表演非常有趣，很多人都會來觀看。

The Southern Lions are the most seen ones in our life. The performances have been more funny than difficult. But their performances are being influenced12 a lot by the Northern lions so that some of the performances are just as difficult and interesting.

南獅是我們生活中最常見的。他們的表演與其說是難度高，不如說是滑稽有趣。但是他們的表演受到北方獅子的影響很大，所以有些表演也一樣有難度且有趣。

（英語原文選自：china-family-adventure.com）

【Notes】

1. festivity n. 慶?；顒?2. perform ?vt. 演出，表演

3. business? n. 公司;商業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu) 4. laughing Buddha? n. 笑佛，彌勒佛

5. fan? n. 扇子 6. throw vt. 擲;扔

7. red envelope? n. 紅包 8. hang? vt. 懸掛，吊;吊著

9. position? n. 位置，方位，地點(diǎn) 10. fresh ?adj. 新的，新鮮的

11. temple fair n. 廟會 12. influence? vt. 影響，支配