【英语时间】What if there was no Qu Yuan?
发布时间：19:31 2021-03-15 HKT
Without Qu Yuan（屈原）, the Dragon Boat Festival （端午节）would not be the same. Perhaps we should say, without this tragic man, the festival would not even exist.
About 2,000 years ago, a government official called Qu Yuan worked very hard for the country. Even so, the corrupt emperor did not appreciate him much and was quite cold to him. Qu Yuan was very disappointed and sad, and he decided to do something very silly ─ he drowned himself in a river. (Dear readers, Qu Yuan was so wrong! Life has ups and downs; he should have looked at the positive side!)
Many people went to the river to search for Qu Yuan, but they failed. They worried that fish would eat his body so they decided to beat drums to scare away the fish. (That is why we have dragon boat racing now. Some folks decorated and painted boats with dragons’ heads, bodies and tails. How creative!)
In the meantime, many people threw rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river. They hoped the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan’s body. (Well, the rice dumplings are certainly nicer.)
Have you ever wondered why Qu Yuan was adored by so many people? Even after 2,000 years, we still remember him every year. He must have been a decent gentleman!
This Dragon Boat Festival will come in July. How will you remember Qu Yuan? Will you watch the dragon boat races? Or simply have some nice rice dumplings?
Vocabulary
tragic (adj) 悲惨的
corrupt (adj) 贪污腐败的
drown (v) 淹死
scare away (ph v) 吓走
wrap (v) 包
decent (adj) 相当不错的
