双语有声阅读：Christmas 圣诞

 Christmas-Home-In the United States

对诞节-家里-在美国

Christmas is considered a major holiday in the United States.Shopping malls have big sales,every-body gets happier,and everywhere shows red and green.As early as one month before December 25th,houses in the residential¹ areas would be dressed up with flashing lights,ornaments,and sculptures.Normally lifeless downtown streets would be illuminated² by trees featuring dazzling lights,and skyscrapers³ would join in with decorations hanging down from top to bottom.

在美国，圣诞节（被认为）是个主要的节日。到那时候，购物中心会进行促销活动，每个人都变得比平常高兴，到处都是红红绿绿的。早在12月25号之前的一个月，在住宅区的那些房子就会被（人们以）闪烁的灯，装饰物和雕刻品装扮起来。平常没什么生气的市中心街道也都被树上令人眩目的灯饰照亮了起来。还有摩天大楼也用装饰品从楼顶垂下到地来加入此一（庆祝的）行列。

Stores aim at this"shopping season"for large sales as everyone is pruchasing gifts for everyone else.Santa Claus and reindeers come out to attract customers and perform at special events as entertainers.

商店都看准了这个“购物季节”来进行大型的促销活动，因为每个人都在买礼物给别人。圣诞老从和驯鹿们出来招揽顾客，并在特别的节目中充当演艺人员。

The Christmas spirit permeates⁴ throughout the country.Starting three or four days before Christmas,employees go home on their vacation,and students begin their winter break.All the major transportation systems like trains,buses,and airplanes are all full of people returing to their families.After two weeks,people return to work feeling refreshed to go about their regular activities.

这种圣诞节气氛遍布全国。从圣诞节之前的三四天开始，员工就回家过节了，学生们开始他们的寒假，所有的主要交通系统像火车，公共汽车和飞机都载满了回家团聚的人们。两星期之后，人们恢复了精神回到工作中，继续过他们平日过的生活。

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

3 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

4 permeates   

弥漫( permeate的第三人称单数 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透

参考例句：

• Studies show that water vapor quickly permeates plastic packaging material. 研究证明水蒸汽能迅速渗入塑料封装材料。
• Democracy permeates the whole country. 民主主义（的思想）普及全国。