(
课件网) Festivals and Customs The Gift of the Magi：The Future in the Past The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year，which is also called as the Chinese New Year. In China, it is called Chun Jie or Guo Nian. Christmas, also known as "Christ Mass", which originated from the Lunar New Year celebration in ancient Rome. Christmas has its root in Christianity, one of the largest religions in the world. For Christians, this is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, who is believed to be the son of God. warm up Background and History of Christmas warm up ‘Christmas’ is an English term for ‘mass on Christ’s day’. Mass means celebration or memorial. It was around 3rd century A.D. that Christmas began to be celebrated as a Christian festival. Before then the midwinter solstice was celebrated in Europe as a folk festival ‘Yule’. In A.D. 336 when the Empire split between east and west, the church in the east recognized January 6th as the celebration date. The time between December 25th and January 6th forms what has become known as the "12 Days of Christmas." step1 lead-in Christmas & Christmas story Christmas is sharing, celebrating, giving, caring, love and believing. The most valuable Christmas gifts are sharing what you have and caring for whom you have. A Heartwarming Christmas Story The short story, written by O. Henry in 1905, tells of a young couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. The Gift of the Magi The couple Jim and Della represent the Magi, the three kings that visited the Christ child and gave the ultimate gifts. Jim and Della are considered the Magi because they gave each other the ultimate gift. lead-in ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all she had. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. If she was to buy a nice gift for her husband Jim, she would need more money. But how could she earn some Della stood in front of the mirror in her apartment. She looked at her reflection,brushed her long, brown hair, and made up her mind: she was going to sell her hair. With the money she received for it, she would buy Jim a perfect gift. 三次 if引导的状从（如果……）使用虚拟语气 挣得，赢得 n.（镜子上的）倒影; v. reflect反映，反思 短语：make up one’s mind下定决心 with-使用，这里表示伴随状态 Della had her hair cut off and sold it for twenty dollars. She spent the next two hours hunting for Jim's gift. She found it at last: a simple but beautiful watch chain for his gold watch, which had been passed down to him from his grandfather. Della paid twenty-one dollars for the watch chain, and hurried home with the remnaining eighty-seven cents. She looked at her reflection in the mirror carefully again. She felt nervous. Did she look like a little schoolboy without her beautiful long hair ... ...
