Chinese Lovers’ Day

You：Chinese Lover's just past.中国的情人节刚过。

David：Ah, the time for lovers to meet. 哦，情人约会的日子。

You：Yes,it's in August.I don't know which day.But I do know, in Chinese lunar calendar,it's july 7th.I don't know which day it is in solar calendar.是的，在8月份。我记不清出具体的日子了，但我知道是阴历七月初七。阳历是哪一天我不知道。

David：Someone told me once about the story behind this special day.我曾听说过关于这个特殊节日的故事。

You：That's the story of two lovers.They are two stars in the sky.这是一对恋人的故事。他们是天空中的两颗星星。

David：Yes, it is a beautiful story. One was a goddess, the daughter of a god, and one was a shepherd boy. They fell in love next to a stream at first sight. Then they married, and had children, but then the mother or father of the goddess got mad. 多么美的故事。一个是神仙的女儿，另一个是个牧人。他们在小河边一见钟情，然后他们结了婚，有了孩子。但后来不知道是她的父亲还是母亲发怒了。

You：是她母亲。是呀，是个美丽的故事。Her mother, yeah. That’s a very beautiful story.

David：They were divided into stars in the sky. And only on that day can they see each other. 他们被变成了两颗星星，分隔两地，只有在那一天才能见面。

You：他们被一条叫“银河”的天河隔开了。They were separated by a river, I mean the milky way.

David：The River? No bridge?河？没有桥吗？

You：没有。汉语里叫做银河。No, in Chinese it’s called Yinhe, the SilverRiver.

David：You mean the Milky Way. The Milky Way is the English name of our galaxy. At night, the galaxy appears like a river in the sky.你是说“银河”——夜晚出现在天空中，就像一条天河。

You：我明白了。就如故事里讲的，他们每年在由很多鸟架成的桥上只见一次面。Oh, I see. Anyway, they can meet only once a year on a bridge made by birds. A lot of birds come together to form a bridge that the lovers use to meet each other on.