美国英语听力80篇1 Lesson11
11) Easter Holiday (A)
Some people depend on the calendar to tell them when spring has arrived.
But many others know spring is here because it is time to celebrate the religious holidays of Passover and Easter.
Jewish people observe Passover to remember the time when Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
The holiday also celebrates the real beginning of the Jewish nation.
And it represents the first for freedom by an oppressed group of people.
Easter is the day when Christians believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Most Christians believe Jesus was sent to earth to save humans from wrongdoing, and to give them everlasting life.
Passover is one of the oldest holidays in the world.
It started more than 3,000 years ago.
It begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan.
This year, Jews begin celebrating the holiday on April Nineteenth.
The book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible--the Jewish holy book--tells the Passover story.
The Israelites were slaves in Egypt.
The ruler of Egypt would not release them.
Moses was the leader of the Israelites.
God gave Moses the power to force the Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave.
God gave Moses the power to strike the Egyptians with terrible events to kill their animals and crops.
The first Passover took place when Moses warned that God would killthe first-born children of Egypt.
On that night, the Israelites remained inside their houses.
They ateflat bread that did not rise, called matzoh.
And they ate lamb.
Moses told his people to mark the doors of their houses with the blood of lambs.
That night, God killed the firstborn Egyptian children.
But He did not kill the children of the Israelites.
He passed over their houses.
The Egyptian ruler was afraid.
He told Moses to lead his people out of Egypt'immediately.
Later, however, Egyptian forces tried to recapture the Israelites.
But Moses separated the waters of the Red Sea so his people could escape.
The Egyptian forces drowned in the sea.
Today, Jewish families still retell the story of being saved from death in Egypt.
They attend Passover services in religious centers.
And, they hold a Passover ceremonial meal called a Seder in their homes.
Family members and friends gather to read the story of the Israelites' freedom from slavery.
They read the story from a special book called The Hagaddah,
and they eat several special foods that help them remember their ancestors in Egypt.
The Seder foods include the traditional matzoh.
This represents the time when their ancestors left Egypt so quickly they did not have time to let their bread rise.
A lamb bone represents the blood used to mark their doors.
Bitter herbs recall the hard life of slavery.
A mixture of apples, nuts,spices and wine is called haroseth.
It represents the bricks and building materials the slaves used in Egypt.
Each person at the Seder drinks four cups of wine.
Another cup of wine on the table is for Elijah.
