Lunar New Year · Worksheet 1
The Biggest Trip Home
Read the story. 英文を読もう。
1Every winter, the biggest trip on Earth begins. In China, people travel home for the Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival. In 2025, people made about nine billion trips in just 40 days. Trains and roads are full, but everyone wants to be home on New Year's Eve.
2The date changes every year. It follows the moon and the sun, so the holiday comes between January 21 and February 20. In 2026, it was on February 17, and in 2027, it will be on February 6. Each year also has an animal, like the horse or the goat.
3On New Year's Eve, families eat a big dinner together. In northern China, people make dumplings, because their shape looks like old Chinese money. Families also eat fish, but they do not finish it. The word for fish sounds like the word for extra. So leftover fish means extra money next year.
4Red is everywhere. People hang red paper on their doors, and children get money in red envelopes. Some people hang the Chinese word for luck upside down. Why? In Chinese, upside down sounds like arrive. So the sign says, "Luck has arrived!"
5Other countries have their own ways. In Korea, children bow deeply to their grandparents and get New Year money. In Vietnam, the zodiac has a cat, not a rabbit. In China, the festival lasts fifteen days. It ends with the Lantern Festival, when the first full moon of the year shines over thousands of red lanterns.
- trip 旅行、移動
- billion 10億
- follow ～にしたがう、～についていく
- zodiac 十二支、星座
- dumpling ギョーザ、だんご
- shape 形
- extra よぶんな（もの）、あまり
- leftover 残り物（の）
- envelope 封筒
- upside down 逆さまに
- bow おじぎをする
- lantern ランタン、提灯