【節氣詞匯】

　　Light Snow 小雪

　　When the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 240 degrees on November 22 to November 23 each year, it’s the time for “Light Snow”.

　　在每年11月22日至11月23日，當太陽到達天文經度240°的時候，就是節氣“小雪”。

　　【氣候特征】

　　Some areas along the Yellow River start to snow. It’s usually light snow, freezing in the night and melting in the morning. The soil is not cold enough, and snow can’t accumulate a lot on the ground. During this period, the rainbow is gone since it doesn’t rain anymore.

　　黃河一帶開始下雪。通常是小雪，夜晚結冰到了第二天早上便融化了。土壤還不夠寒冷，所以在地面上無法形成積雪。在這段時間，不再出現彩虹，因為不再降雨了。

　　【傳統習俗】

　　Traditional food for this day is glutinous rice cake. In ancient times, glutinous rice cake is traditional sacrificial offerings. It’s used by farmers to sacrifice for the “God of Ox”. Nowadays, it’s a popular food in south China. After this day, farmers also start to make preserved meat, to eat in the coming Spring Festival.

　　這一天的傳統食物是糯米糕。在古代，糯米糕是祭祀供品。是農民們用來供奉“牛神”的。如今，它是中國南方很流行的食物。在小雪后，農民們也會開始做腌肉，準備來年春天食用。

　　【健康小貼士】

　　In order to prevent blood viscosity from increasing, it’s better to eat food which can protect vascular, such as hawthorn, black fungus, tomato and celery. Food like balsam pear, corn, buckwheat and carrots can also reduce blood fat. When it’s cold and damp outside, it’s good to eat some temperately tonifying foods such as beef and mutton.

　　為了防止血粘度上升，最好吃些保護血管的食物，如山楂，黑木耳，番茄和芹菜。諸如香梨、玉米、麥片以及胡蘿卜這樣的食物同樣能降低血脂。當外界濕冷的時候，最好吃些如牛羊肉這類稍微滋補的食物。