你的头发还好吗？

今天是二月二，龙抬头节。没有Tony老师的日子，你的头发还好吗？

Explainer: Why People Cut Their Hair on Longtaitou Festival

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While China’s Dragon Boat Festival gets plenty of attention, with exciting boat racing competitions and tasty zongzi, there’s another dragon-themed festival that’s also been around since ancient times.

The traditional Chinese Longtaitou Festival, meaning Dragon-Head-Raising Festival, takes place on the second day of the second lunar month, and celebrates the beginning of spring and farming. This year, the festival falls on February 24.

表示“发生；适逢（某日）”，英文解释为“If a celebration or other special event falls on a particular day or date, it happens to be on that day or date.”举个🌰：

My birthday falls on a Saturday this year.

今年我的生日适逢星期六。

The story goes that after this day, the Dragon King would wake from his winter sleep and bring rainfall for the crops. The Chinese saying ‘Er yue er, long tai tou,’ which translates to ‘On the second day of the second month, the dragon lifts its head,’ celebrates the ancient agrarian culture in China. Although some of the traditions to celebrate the day are no longer practiced, some do remain.

agrarian /əˈɡrɛərɪən/ 表示“耕地所有权的；耕地的；农用土地的；农业的”，英文解释为“Agrarian means relating to the ownership and use of land, especially farmland, or relating to the part of a society or economy that is concerned with agriculture.”

The most notable tradition on the day is getting a haircut, which is said to get rid of bad luck. According to Xiao Fang, deputy director of China Folklore Society, the concept of cutting hair on the day of the festival started around the Ming and Qing dynasties, as cited by Global Times. In contrast, getting a trim during the first lunar month is said to bring bad luck – with one saying even warning that your uncle will die if you get a haircut during the first month (正月剃头死舅舅, Zhengyue titou si jiujiu).

表示“摆脱；丢弃；扔掉”，英文解释为“to make yourself free of sb/sth that is annoying you or that you do not want; to throw sth away”举个🌰：

Try and get rid of your visitors before I get there.

在我到达之前，想办法把你的客人打发走。 

The problem is getting rid of nuclear waste.

问题是如何处理核废料。

这个词的用法很多：

1）表示“修剪”，可以作动词或名词，英文解释为“If you trim something, for example, someone's hair, you cut off small amounts of it in order to make it look neater.”举个🌰：

My friend trims my hair every four weeks.

我朋友每隔四周就为我修剪一次头发。

His hair needed a trim.

他的头发需要修剪了。

2）表示“镶边于；镶边”，也可以作动词或名词，英文解释为“If something such as a piece of clothing is trimmed with a type of material or design, it is decorated with it, usually along its edges.”如：

· 动词：jackets, which are trimmed with crocheted flowers镶着钩针编织花边的夹克；

· 名词：a white satin scarf with black trim 一条镶着黑边的白色绸缎围巾。

3）作动词，表示“削减；除去”，英文解释为“If a government or other organization trims something such as a plan, policy, or amount, they reduce it slightly in extent or size.”举个🌰：

American companies looked at ways they could trim these costs.

美国公司研究了他们可能削减成本的方案。

4）作形容词，表示“整洁美观的”，英文解释为“Something that is trim is neat, and attractive.”举个🌰：

The neighbors' gardens were trim and neat.

邻居们的花园既整洁又美观。

5）作形容词，表示“苗条的”，英文解释为“If you describe someone's figure as trim, you mean that it is attractive because there is no extra fat on their body.”举个🌰：

The driver was a trim young woman of perhaps thirty. 

驾车者是一位大约三十来岁的苗条年轻女子。

However, some argue the Chinese phrase has been misinterpreted, and actually calls on people to ‘remember the past’ (思旧, sijiu). Xiao notes that men of Han ethnicity were required to shave the front of their head and braid their back portion of hair during the Manchu rule of the Qing dynasty. The similar pronunciation of ‘remember the past’ (sijiu) and ‘death of the uncle on your mother’s side’ (sijiu) probably led to the later saying.

1）表示“呼吁；公开请求；号召；动员”，英文解释为“If you call on someone to do something or call upon them to do it, you say publicly that you want them to do it.”举个🌰：

I now call on everyone to raise a glass to the happy couple.

现在我提议大家为这幸福的一对举杯。

2）表示“短暂访问”，英文解释为“If you call on someone or call upon someone, you pay them a short visit.”举个🌰：

She was intending to call on Miss Jane. 

她打算去拜访简小姐。

1）表示“把…编成辫子”，作动词，英文解释为“If you braid hair or a group of threads, you twist three or more lengths of the hair or threads over and under each other to make one thick length.”

2）表示“流穗”，英文解释为“Braid is a narrow piece of decorated cloth or twisted threads, which is used to decorate clothes or curtains.”如：a plum-coloured uniform with lots of gold braid 一套带很多金色流穗的梅色制服。

It was a tradition in the past for folks to line up outside barbershops on Longtaitou Festival, waiting for their first haircut of the New Year. Nowadays, you’re less likely to see salons jam-packed on the day of the festival, especially given the current situation this year.

表示“堆满的；拥挤不堪的”，英文解释为“If somewhere is jam-packed, it is so full of people or things that there is no room for any more.”举个🌰：

His room was jam-packed with fruit, flowers, and gifts.

他的房间堆满了水果，鲜花和礼物。

表示“考虑到；鉴于”，英文解释为“when you consider sth”举个🌰：

Given her interest in children, teaching seems the right job for her.

考虑到她喜欢孩子，教书看来是很适合她的工作。

这里提到两个词：

· barbershop表示“理发店”，英文解释为“a shop where a barber works”；

· salon表示“（提供服务的）厅，院，室，店；（尤指）美容院，美发厅，时装店”，英文解释为“a shop where you can get a particular service, especially connected with beauty or fashion”，如：a beauty salon 美容院，a hairdressing/hair salon 美发厅。

As for culinary treats, different eats are popular in different provinces – tofu balls in Fujian, fried beans in Shandong and chengyao cakes in Suzhou, Jiangsu. Popular foods are given names of dragon body parts, such as dumplings (dragon’s ears, long er), noodles (dragon’s beard, long xu) and spring rolls (dragon’s scales, long lin). Other common foods to celebrate the festival include popcorn, pancakes and pig’s head.

表示“烹饪的；食物的”，英文解释为“connected with cooking or food”，如：culinary skills 烹饪技能。

前阵子在今天是什么日子？你一定猜不到：世界穿山甲日！一文中刚提到Pangolins, nocturnal animals that feast on ants, are highly sought after for their supposed, but unproven, medicinal benefits, and as a culinary delicacy. They are said to be the most trafficked wild animal in the world. 穿山甲是一种以蚂蚁为食的夜行动物，因为所谓的但未经证实的药用价值以及“饕餮美味”的标签而备受追捧。它们是全球走私量最大的哺乳动物。

表示“春卷”，英文解释为“A spring roll is a Chinese food consisting of a small roll of thin pastry filled with vegetables and sometimes meat, and then fried.”

这个词同样在今天是什么日子？你一定猜不到：世界穿山甲日！文中出现过，表示“鳞；鳞片”，英文解释为“any of the thin plates of hard material that cover the skin of many fish and reptiles”。

So, if you’re looking for a bit of good luck, grab a friend with good hand-eye coordination or daringly head to the barbershop to get a fresh cut today!

手眼协调，手眼协调是指人在视觉配合下手的精细动作的协调性。Hand-eye coordination (also known as eye-hand coordination) is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement and the processing of visual input to guide reaching and grasping along with the use of proprioception of the hands to guide the eyes.

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