In Chinese culture, gift giving is a way of remembering special days. But there are some taboos (禁忌) on gift giving.
Chinese people usually don’t give a clock to each other. A clock sounds as zhong in Chinese. It means “the end”. So, giving someone a clock means “Your time is up.”
If clocks aren’t OK, maybe buying some fruit is a good idea. But remember not to buy pears. A pear sounds as li in Chinese. That means separation. The umbrella also sounds the same as the word for separation in Chinese. Therefore, pears and umbrellas aren’t good.
If you want to celebrate a happy moment, prepare some flowers. But don’t buy the chrysanthemum (菊花), because it is often used to remember the passing of a loved one.
Four sounds like si in Chinese, which means death (死亡). You shouldn’t give gifts in sets of four. When giving lucky money, the number shouldn’t include a four such as 40 or 400. Chinese people like to give lucky money equal to certain “lucky numbers”. For example,“520”means“I love you”,“1314”means“forever love”, “666”means“hoping everything goes well for you”and“888”means“wishing you wealth”.
At last, it’s better to wrap (包装) your gift with paper in red or other warm colors. Black and white are considered unlucky colors.
【小题1】The underlined word “separation” means ________ in Chinese?| A．分离 | B．团聚 | C．合作 | D．聚会 |
| A．The pear and the clock. | B．The pear and the umbrella. |
| C．The umbrella and the clock. | D．The pear and the chrysanthemum. |
| A．I love you. | B．Forever love. |
| C．Wishing you wealth. | D．Hoping everything goes well for you. |
| A．You’d better wrap your gift with paper in warm colors. |
| B．You can buy your friends the chrysanthemum for her birthday. |
| C．In China, it’s OK to give gifts in sets of four. |
| D．Clock means “the beginning” in Chinese. |
| A．education | B．health | C．culture | D．sports |
