Easter is not only a religious festival, but also a seasonal festival.

, relates to the Easter Bunny and the Easter egg. The origin of the rabbit icon, or Easter Bunny, comes from the fact that rabbits are notable for their capacity of abundant production of young especially at this time of year. The use of Easter eggs has its roots in the characteristic of eggs laid in great numbers in the spring being colored like rays of the returning sun and the northern lights. There is also a long tradition of decorating Easter eggs and giving them at Easter.

As for the Hebrew tradition, Easter just happens to fall on the same day as Passover, a traditional Jewish festival. It was at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem that Jesus, a Jew, was crucified and rose from the dead. A name for Easter, therefore, is Pasch, with various spellings. Churches throughout the East and West celebrate Easter as a major feast ranking with Christmas, witness the "hot cross bun" or boon distributed among the faithful. There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament bible, or in the later writings by Christian leaders. The first Christians didn't celebrate it as a Christian event at all. They continued to observe the Jewish festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events, which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception and became the Christian Easter.

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A．Rabbits arc notable for their capacity of abundant production.

B．Rabbits are born only in spring.

C．Rabbits are the symbol of love.

D．Rabbits are notable for their cleverness and loveliness.

6. Easter It’s Easter in the UK and the shops are full of Easter eggs, hot-cross buns and Easter bunnies. Easter is a holiday celebrated in early spring. The date of the festival is not fixed. It is celebrated on the first Sunday of a full moon day after March 21. It usually falls between March 21 and April 25. It started as a Christian holiday, created by the early Christians to celebrate the rebirth of Jesus from the dead. It is a religious holiday celebrated by Christians, but non-religious people often mark the day, too. Over time it became a holiday meant to celebrate spring and the rebirth of the earth after a long, cold winter. Symbols of Easter are eggs, rabbits, lambs, flowers, especially tulips and the religious symbols of the cross, and the virgin Mary. Children around the world have fun on Easter by painting eggs, hunting for chocolate eggs, making rabbit and flower crafts and enjoying a delicious lamb dinner. Although Easter is widely seen as a Christian festival which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, its origins pre-date Christianity and many of its symbols come from the earliest civilizations. Our modern festival’s roots lie in ancient seasonal rituals which marked the transition from the "death" of winter to the new life and rebirth of spring. These days we give chocolate eggs as gifts at Easter but eggs have been symbols of fertility for thousands of years. The ancient Persians gave each other painted eggs for the festival of Nowrooz, a celebration held at the spring equinox which marked the start of Persian New Year. The tradition continues to this day. Centuries ago, the early Saxon people marked buns with a cross to honour their goddess Eostre, whose name some people believe to be the origin of the word Easter. It is believed that early Christians incorporated such pagan festivals into their religion. Some experts say the Easter bunny was originally a hare as this animal represented fertility and growth in pagan mythology due to its capacity for reproduction. Moreover, in some ancient cultures the hare was also a symbol of the moon, which is significant as the date of Easter changes each year depending on the lunar cycle. The Easter bunny has become an important symbol of Easter all over the world. But nowadays not everybody treats such symbols with respect. Pranksters in the Austrian town of Villach have stolen a giant Easter Bunny from the town square. Local police say it should not be too difficult to spot as it is two meters tall and weighs 60kg. 11. Why is the bunny regarded as an important symbol of Easter according to the passage？

A、It is notable for its capacity of abundant production.

B、Because it is born only in spring.

C、Because it is the symbol of love.

D、It is notable for their cleverness and loveliness.

ave lunch at 2:30 p. m. and dinner at 10:00 p. m. People don't usually go to bed before midnight. Visitors to Spain often ask, "When do Spanish people sleep？" The Spanish sleep less and go out more than other Europeans.

The Spanish love walking, and they often go for a walk around the town in the evenings. At 10:00 on Friday and Saturday nights the bars and restaurants are full. The cinema is very popular in Spain (25 % of the adults go to the cinema once a week or more). But Spanish night-life really starts at midnight. A lot of disco-bars don't close before 6:00 in the morning. In Valencia, on the east coast of Spain, some discos open at 10:00 on Sunday mornings!

Only about 21% of the population go to church. On Sundays many people go to the country or to the beach. Spanish people often go away at weekends, at Easter, and at Christmas. Many families have a house in the country, and go there in the summer. People often sit in traffic jams on Sunday evenings. And on 1st August, twelve million cars are on the road!

When do Spanish people usually go to bed？

A．After midnight.

B．Before midnight.

C．At 10:00 p. m.

D．At 2:30 in the night,

A．Rabbit

B．Pig

C．Egg

A、 people

B、symbols

C、seasons

D、bags