山上傲然挺立着一棵桃树，其枝干粗壮雄浑，蜿蜒交错，仿若巨龙腾飞，遮天蔽日，覆盖之广竟达三千里。在那高耸的树梢之上，栖息着一只金鸡，每当旭日东升，金色的阳光轻柔地洒落在它那熠熠生辉的羽衣之上，金鸡便会昂首挺胸，引吭高歌，清脆的鸣声划破长空，传至远方。
今天是年三十，又叫除夕，大家都沉浸在和家人团聚的喜悦中，那么你知道为何年三十叫除夕?其实大年三十原本不叫除夕，相传，有只叫“夕”的怪兽，每逢腊月三十就来祸祸百姓，对此大家也是束手无策，只能躲在家中紧闭家门，即便如此，“夕”仍然不罢休，闯入百姓家为非作歹，搞得家家鸡飞狗跳，百姓们也是苦不堪言。
According to tales and legends， Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian . The Nian would eat villagers， especially children in the middle of the night.One year， all the villagers decided to hide from the beast. An older man appeared before the villagers went into hiding and said that he would stay the night and would get revenge on the Nian. The old man put red papers up and set off firecrackers. The day after， the villagers came back to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. They assumed that the old man was a deity who came to save them. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red and loud noises.Then the tradition grew when New Year was approaching， and the villagers would wear red clothes， hang red lanterns， and red spring scrolls on windows and doors and used firecrackers and drums to frighten away the Nian. From then on， Nian never came to the village again.
