又中又英 | Bumper holiday | 褚简宁

　　It's back to work and school now that the Lunar New Year holidays are over. Next are the Easter holidays, which coincide with the Ching Ming holiday. The two combined create a five-day break. Hong Kong's holiday calendar is ahead of the pack. If something is ahead of the pack, it means it's better or more advanced than others. Hong Kong's holidays include Christmas, New Year, Lunar New Year, Easter, and Reunification Day. It has 17 holidays in 2026. Nepal leads the pack with about 35 holidays annually. To lead the pack means to be the leader or the most successful.

　　Taiwan, where I often stay for extended periods, has a bumper holiday period for Lunar New Year. Taiwanese people had nine days for the Year of the Horse. That's almost as many holidays as the US has for the whole year! A bumper holiday is an unusually large, long, or successful holiday season. My Taipei serviced apartment is close to many shops and restaurants. Almost all were closed for the New Year except for shopping malls, department stores, and some supermarkets. Some areas were like ghost towns because most people had gone abroad or returned to their home villages.

　　A ghost town is a town with few or no remaining residents. But I was woken up at 6 am on the fifth day of the New Year by firecrackers, which Hong Kong banned long ago. I heard a lot of firecrackers that morning and on the seventh day of the New Year. My Hong Kong friends in Taipei explained that businesses set off firecrackers when they reopen after the New Year.

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　　现在农历新年假期已过，大家都返工返学了。下一个就是复活节，恰巧碰上清明节。这两个节日合成了五天的假期。香港的节日假表是 ahead of the pack——若某事物是 ahead of the pack，意即它是领先其他、出类拔萃的。香港假期包括圣诞、新年、农历新年、复活节和回归纪念日。2026年就有17天公众假期。尼泊尔每年有35天假期，更是leads the pack—— to lead the pack就是做领袖，遥遥领先，或是最成功的。

　　我常延长时间逗留的台湾，则会放超长的假期（bumper holiday）去过农历新年。台湾人有九天假期庆祝马年来临，那差不多是美国全年假期的总数！A bumper holiday就是特别地盛大、悠长又或成功的节假。我台北的服务式住宅就跟许多店舖和餐厅相近，除购物商场、百货公司和一些超市之外，差不多所有商店都在放新年假期，不会开门营业。一些地区更像鬼城（ghost towns），因为大多数人都到了外地，又或回到家乡过年。

　　A ghost town就是有很少或没有甚么居民余留的城镇。但我在正月初五早上六时，给爆竹声吵醒了，而爆竹于很久以前在香港已被全面禁止。那天早上，以及在年初七，我听到许多的爆竹声。我住台北的香港朋友跟我解释，当店舖放完新年假的时候，就会烧爆仗启市。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻