The Origin of Chinese New Year

　　The Chinese New Year is now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the Begining of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too old to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All agree, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese solely means "year", was originally the name of a monster beast that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.

　　中国新年现在通常被称为春节，因为它始于立春(二十四节气中与自然变化相适应的第一个节气)。它的起源太古老，难以追溯。有几种解释。然而，所有人都同意“年”这个词，在现代汉语中仅仅是“年”的意思，最初是一种怪兽的名字，它在新年前夜开始捕食人类。

　　One legend goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, "I hear say that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?" So, it did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harrassed people and their domestic animals from time to time.

　　有一个传说，年兽有一个非常大的嘴巴，可以一口吞下很多人。人们非常害怕。有一天，一个老人来救他们，说要制服年。他对年说:“我听说你很有能力，但是你能吞下地球上其他的猛兽而不是那些根本不是你的对手的人吗?”所以，它确实吞下了地球上的许多猛兽，也不时骚扰人类和他们的家畜。