英文作文...

Lunar New Year
Visitors will be awestruck by the myriad of New Year celebrations in Hong Kong that last 15 days. A carnival atmosphere prevails with spectacular fireworks, a fantastic night parade, skyscrapers sparkling with special festive lighting, pilgrimages to "must see" temples, flower markets, a soccer tournament, special tours and much more. This is one of the best times to visit Hong Kong as it goes into overdrive to provide a feast for the senses during this holiday season. You'll soon be wishing everyone the traditional Chinese New Year greeting, Kung Hei Fat Choi (Prosperous New Year) during the year's biggest and brightest Chinese festival.

Highlighting the New Year's festivities is the International Chinese New Year Parade held on the first day of every Chinese New Year. See colourful floats, marching bands and costumed groups from around the world. There is also street entertainers along with dragon and lion dancers. It's a scintillating fusion of international and Chinese elements that defines Hong Kong as the city where East meets West.

Dragon Boat Festivals

This Festival, also known as Tuen Ng Festival, commemorates the death of a popular Chinese national hero, Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the Mi Lo River over 2,000 years ago to protest against the corrupt rulers. Legend says that as townspeople attempted to rescue him, they beat drums to scare fish away and threw dumplings into the sea to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body.

The real highlight of the festival is the fierce dragon boats racing in a lively, vibrant spectacle. Teams race the elaborately decorated dragon boats to the beat of heavy drums. The special boats, which measure more than 10 metres, have ornately carved and painted "dragon" heads and tails, and each carries a crew of 20-22 paddlers.

Christmas
From November onwards, it is impossible to forget that Christmas is coming. Coloured lights decorate many town centres and shops, along with shiny decorations, and artificial snow painted on shop windows.

In streets and shops, 'Christmas trees' (real or plastic evergreen 'conifer' trees) will also be decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments.

Shopping centres become busier as December approaches and often stay open till late.Shopping centre speaker systems systems will play Christmas 'carols' - the traditional Christmas Christian songs, and groups of people will often sing carols on the streets to raise money for charity. Most places of work will hold a short Christmas party about a week before Christmas. Although traditional Christmas foods may be eaten, drink (and plenty of it) means that little work will be done after the party!
By mid-December, most homes will also be decorated with Christmas trees, coloured lights and paper or plastic decorations around the rooms.

In many countries, most people post Christmas greeting cards to their friends and family, and these cards will be hung on the walls of their homes. In UK this year, the British Post Office expects to handle over 100 million cards EACH DAY, in the three weeks before Christmas.

The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new railway system, the public postal service was the 19th century's communication revolution, just as email is for us today.) As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one half-penny - half the price of an ordinary letter.


The common point of the above festivals is family and friends gather together to celebrate certain festivals, they share the joy and happiness with someone they love and it is the best time to show their caring to each other.