Question

今年年初我国政府对法定节假日作出如下调整:

1. 五一节由3天调整为1天.

2. 清明节（Tomb-sweeping Day ）、端午节（Dragon Boat Festival ）、中秋节增设为国家法定节假日(legal holidays).

假如你是王平,是江苏省南京市育才中学高三8班学生。最近,你班举行了一个班会,对此法定节假日调整进行了一次热烈的讨论，讨论结果如下：

75% 学生支持	25%学生反对
理由： 1.作为一个有着五千多年悠久历史的古国，我们的传统节日是中华民族文化遗产的一部分； 2. 每个传统节日都有着它的特定的含义。如每年农历五月初五端午节之际，人们以包粽子、赛龙舟的方式纪念古代大诗人屈原。清明节，人们以不同方式祭祖或向已故亲人好友和英雄寄托哀思、表达崇敬之情。	理由： 1．五一黄金周的取消使很多人尤其是年轻人不能去长途旅游；三天时间度假不够尽兴。  2．黄金周的取消对于旅游业是个不小的损失。

今天是6月8日，正好是端午节, 你的美国笔友Jack想了解有关中国节假日方面的情况，请根据以上内容，用英语给他写一封完整的英文信，向他介绍我国节假日的调整情况及你们班学生对此的不同意见，并就此调整谈谈你自己的看法.(至少两点)

参考词汇: 粽子: zongzi; 黄金周: golden week；取消：cancellation  n.

(注：本篇字数已大大超过了高考要求，内容仅供同学们做写作时参考。另外，提醒同学们注意完整的书信格式。)

Answer 1

Class 8, Senior 3 , Yucai High School

                                                  Nanjing ,Jiangsu China

                                                    June 8,2008

Dear Jack,

  I’m writing to tell you something about the adjustment of our legal holidays .

The new holiday plan cuts May Day holiday from three days to one day and for the first time adds a day each ---the Tomb-sweeping Day , the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival to the list of legal holidays.

Recently our class has held a heated discussion about the adjustment .

Three quarters of the students are in favour of it . Their reasons are as follows. Firstly , as an ancient country with a history of over 5,000 years, traditional festivals represent part of the Chinese nation’s culture heritage. Secondly , every traditional festival has its special meaning. Take Dragon Boat Festival for example , people show great honor and respect for our ancient poet, Quyuan, in forms of wrapping and eating zongzi and holding dragon boat races. Another traditional festival ,Tomb-sweeping Day also provides people with a chance to show mourning or respect to their ancestors ,late friends, relatives or heroes .

However , one fifth of the students in our class don’t think it necessary to make such an arrangement . In their opinion, the cancel of May Day Golden Week has made them unable to take a long travel . And people especially young people can’t enjoy themselves thoroughly in the short three-day holiday.  Besides , the tourism industry has suffered a great loss as a result of the cancellation of the golden week.

As far as I’m concerned , the first adjustment is necessary . Although long holidays can contribute to the development of tourism , it causes all kinds of problems such as traffic jam and pollution. This new plan may solve these problems perfectly.

For my part , the second adjustment is much more meaningful than the first one. The three holidays are not only some traditions but also an important part of ancient Chinese cultures ,therefore, making these traditional festivals legal holidays will help protect folk customs and contribute to keeping them alive in the modern society where they are always forgotten.

Best wishes !

                                                              Yours ,

                                                        Wang Ping