向　前

Christmas Day, December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian religion, is the biggest and best-loved holiday in the United States.

According to the Bible, the holy book of Christians, God decided to allow his only son, Jesus Christ, to be born to a human mother and live on earth so that people could understand God better and learn to love God and each other more. “Christmas”,meaning “celebration of Christ ”, honors the time when Jesus was born to a young Jewish woman Mary.

Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter, but before they came together, she was found to be with child. Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Although the exact date of the birth of Jesus nearly 2,000 years ago is not known, the calendar on the supposed date divides all time into B.C. (Before Christ ) and A.D. ( a Latin phrase, Anno Domini, “in the year of our Lord.”) For the first 300 years, Jesus birthday was celebrated on different dates. Finally, in the year 354, church leaders chose December 25 as his birthday.

12月25日的圣誕節(jié)是慶祝基督教創(chuàng)始人耶穌·基督生日的日子，是美國最大、人們最喜愛的節(jié)日。

據(jù)基督教徒的圣書《圣經(jīng)》說，上帝決定讓他的獨生子耶穌·基督投生人間，找個母親，然后就在人間生活，以便人們能更好地了解上帝、學習熱愛上帝和更好地相互熱愛?！笆フQ節(jié)”的意思是“慶祝基督”，慶祝一個年輕的猶太婦女瑪麗婭生下耶穌的時刻。

瑪麗婭已和木匠約瑟夫訂婚?？墒牵谒麄兺又?，約瑟夫發(fā)現(xiàn)瑪麗婭已懷孕。因為約瑟夫是個正派的人，又不想把這件事說出去讓她丟臉，所以他想悄悄地和她分手。他正在考慮這事時，上帝的天使出現(xiàn)在他的夢中，對他說，“不要猶豫了，把瑪麗婭娶回家。她懷的孩子來自圣靈。她將生下個男孩子，你們給孩子取名叫耶穌，因為他將從罪惡中拯救人們?！?/p>

盡管耶穌的確切生日并不清楚，大約是在2000年前，但是日歷按著假定日期把時間分為公元前（耶穌基督誕生前）和公元后（A. D. 是拉丁文縮寫，意思是“有了我們主——耶穌的年代”）。在公元后的頭三百年間，耶穌的生日是在不同的日子慶祝的。最后，在公元354年，教堂的領導人把12月25日定為耶穌基督的生日。

True or False

( )1. Christmas is the biggest and best-loved holiday in the United States.

( )2. “Christmas”—meaning “celebration of Christ ”.

( )3. Finally, in the year 345, church leaders chose December 25 as his birthday.