过年，大家都回家

你怎么了？你从中午就一直在看手机。

What's wrong? You've been looking at your phone nonstop since noon.

我在抢票。春节要到了，我要回家，但是票太难买了。

I'm trying to grab a ticket. Spring Festival is almost here, I need to go home, but tickets are so hard to buy.

春节是什么？为什么大家都要在这个时候回家？

What is Spring Festival? Why does everyone have to go home at this exact time?

春节是一年中最重要的节日，很多人都要回家，跟家人团圆。这两个星期，好像很多人都在同一个时候坐车、坐飞机。

Spring Festival is the most important holiday of the year. Almost everyone has to go home and reunite with their family. During these two weeks, it feels like everyone is on a train or a plane at the same time.

这么多人？那票是不是特别难买？

That many people? So tickets must be especially hard to get?

对，票太难买了，我每天中午都要看几十次，看有没有人不去了，把票让出来。

Right. Tickets are so hard to get that I check my phone dozens of times every lunch, looking for someone who's not going and releasing their ticket.

如果买不到票呢？

What if you can't get one?

那就不好了，有人会站着坐十几个小时的车，也有人只能明年再回去。所以大家都在抢。

Then it's bad. Some people end up standing for over ten hours on the train, and some just have to wait until next year to go home. That's why everyone is scrambling for tickets.

你为什么这么想回家？在这儿跟朋友一起，不可以吗？

Why do you want to go home so badly? Can't you just stay here with friends?

不可以，春节最重要的就是团圆饭。一家人坐在一张桌子边，吃很多菜，说说这一年的事。如果我不在，桌子上就少了一个人。

No. For Spring Festival, the most important thing is the reunion meal. The whole family sits around one table, eats a lot of dishes, and talks about the year. If I'm not there, there's one person missing from the table.

你说的这个，有点像我们的感恩节，一家人在一起吃饭。

What you're describing sounds a little like our Thanksgiving, a family eating together.

有点像，但感恩节只是一天，而且没有这么多人同一天回家。春节的时候，大家几乎都在同样的时间回家，火车站、机场都是人。

A little, but Thanksgiving is only one day, and it doesn't have this many people going home on the same day. Around Spring Festival, almost everyone travels in the same window of time, so train stations and airports are packed.

那小孩子最喜欢春节的什么？

So what do kids like most about Spring Festival?

红包！春节的时候，家里的大人都会给小孩红包，里面是钱，小孩子都很高兴。

Red envelopes! During Spring Festival, the adults in the family give the kids red envelopes with money inside, and the kids are thrilled.

红包只给小孩子吗？

Are red envelopes only for kids?

也不一定，工作以后，你结婚了，也可能要给别人红包。

Not necessarily. Once you're working, and once you're married, you might have to give red envelopes to other people too.

这个我们真的没有。你们的春节，我们没有一个一样的节日。

We really don't have anything like this. There's no holiday of ours that's the same as your Spring Festival.

所以你明白了，为什么我这么想买到这张票。

So now you understand why I want this ticket so badly.

明白了，希望你能抢到票，回家吃上团圆饭。

I understand. I hope you get your ticket and make it home for that reunion meal.