VOA日常语法2023--Grammar and Halloween

Grammar and Halloween

An interesting holiday in the United States is coming up soon. Halloween happens on the last day of October. If you have lived in the U.S., you have probably noticed many changes in the month or so before Halloween. Let's hear about some of them and explore the vocabulary and expressions you might hear this time of year.

‘Trick-or-treat'

First, you should know about trick-or-treating. Children dress up in special clothes, or costumes, to look like frightening creatures. They might dress up as little vampires², ghosts and witches or superheroes. Then their parents walk with them to the homes of neighbors, where the children knock at the door and call out, "Trick or treat!"

Some people believe the custom goes back to an old Celtic celebration in which people went from door to door asking for firewood. The Celts believed that the spirits of the dead would return to their homes on October 31, the day of the autumn feast³. The Celts would build large fires to frighten away evil⁴ spirits on that night.

In modern-day Halloween, the children ask for candy. That's the "treat" part. The "trick" part is what happens if you do not give them something.

Before Halloween, communities might create a "haunted⁵ house" in an old house or an open field. Visitors can walk through the place and be frightened and surprised by unusual noises and people dressed up like ghosts or spirits.

Fear plays a big part in Halloween celebrations. The words we use to talk about fear include "scary," an adjective⁶ to show something causes fear and "afraid" an adjective that describes the person who feels fear. We might say, "I'm scared of ghosts," to say we are afraid of ghosts.

Another word we use to describe things that cause fear is "spooky." Little people trying to look like ghosts might say, "Boo!" to frighten others. Let's put some of these expressions together to see how they work.

Greg has a really scary costume this year. He said "Boo!" to me and I jumped!

Caty's house looks really spooky with all those skeletons⁷ and spider webs that she put out in her yard.

I'm not afraid of ghosts but seeing people dressed up as witches scares me!

You will see that stores begin offering many kinds of candies in small packages. We call these "individually wrapped" treats. They are meant for handing out to children as part of trick-or-treating. Some candy makers⁸ call these small packages "fun-sized" treats.

Halloween decorations

People put some strange things on and around their homes for Halloween. People hang toy spiders, skeletons and other scary decorations on trees and bushes. You will see pumpkins¹⁰ everywhere. People often empty the pumpkins and make scary faces on them. Then they place a candle inside so the pumpkin⁹ face shines in the night. We call these "jack¹¹-o-lanterns."

The custom of carving¹² scary faces into vegetables is believed to come to us from the Irish. They had an old story about a wandering soul named Stingy Jack. They carved faces in turnips¹³ to frighten him away. When they came to America, they found the pumpkin was widely available. So, they carved faces into pumpkins, and made what we call the jack-o-lantern today. Now, children carry plastic buckets made to look like a carved pumpkin. They fill them with candy as they trick-or-treat around their neighborhood.

We close with a usual conversation around Halloween in the U.S. See how many traditions and customs you can spot.

A: Are you going to any Halloween parties this year?

B: No, I have to take my kids trick-or-treating. Then I'm too tired to dress up and go out to a party. Are you going?

A: Yes, I'm going to be a vampire¹ this year. My block has a great party with a haunted house every year.

B: Oh, I wish I could go. Hey, will you help me carve these pumpkins? I want to put them out front.

B: Sure, I love carving jack-o-lanterns. Can I have some of that candy while I'm working?

A: Of course. Help yourself to those fun-sized Hershey bars. I only have a hundred of them.

Does your culture have any celebrations where you dress up or give out treats? Write to us in the comments to tell us about them!

And that's Everyday Grammar for Halloween. Boo!

Words in This Story

dress up – v. to wear a special kind of clothing for a festival or event

vampire – n. a dead person who leaves the grave¹⁴ at night to bite and suck the blood of living people

ghost – n. the soul of a dead person thought of as living in an unseen world or as appearing to living people

witch – n. a woman who is thought to have magic powers

candy – n. a sweet food made with sugar or chocolate

1 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

2 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

3 feast   

n.盛宴，筵席，节日

参考例句：

• After the feast she spent a week dieting to salve her conscience.大吃了一顿之后，她花了一周时间节食以安慰自己。
• You shouldn't have troubled yourself to prepare such a feast!你不该准备这样丰盛的饭菜，这样太麻烦你了！

4 evil   

n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的

参考例句：

• We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
• Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。

5 haunted   

adj.闹鬼的；受到折磨的；令人烦恼的v.“haunt”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• There was a haunted look in his eyes. 他眼中透露出忧虑的神色。
• The country is haunted by the spectre of civil war. 内战仿佛一触即发，举国上下一片恐慌。

6 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

7 skeletons   

n.（建筑物等的）骨架( skeleton的名词复数 )；骨骼；梗概；骨瘦如柴的人（或动物）

参考例句：

• Only skeletons of buildings remained. 只剩下了建筑物的框架。 来自辞典例句
• It looks like six skeletons in front of that stone door! 在这石头门前看上去就象有六副骨骼！ 来自辞典例句

8 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

10 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

11 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

12 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

13 turnips   

芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表

参考例句：

• Well, I like turnips, tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflowers, onions and carrots. 噢，我喜欢大萝卜、西红柿、茄子、菜花、洋葱和胡萝卜。 来自魔法英语-口语突破（高中）
• This is turnip soup, made from real turnips. 这是大头菜汤，用真正的大头菜做的。

14 grave   

n.墓穴，坟墓，雕刻工，抑音；adj.庄重的，严肃的，重大的，低沉的；vt.雕刻

参考例句：

• Marriage is the grave of love.婚姻是爱情的坟墓。
• This is a very grave matter indeed.这问题的确非常严重。