Supplementary Material for Unit 2
Text A Christmas Day

Christmas Day, the 25th of December, is the biggest festival celebrated in the Christian countries of the world. Christians regard this day as the day as the birthday of Jesus Christ, but many of the customs and celebrations are not of a religious nature.
In the large shops preparations for Christmas are begun five or six weeks before the actual day. Shop owners like Christmas because it is a time when people exchange presents. This means more goods are bought than any other time of the year. In larger towns decorations（1） are put up in the main street two or three weeks before Christmas---usually these decorations are lit up at night.
Preparations are also made at home. Special puddings（2） and cakes are eaten at Christmas Day and these have to be made three or four weeks in advance. （3） Two or three days before Christmas, people decorate their houses with paper decorations and leaves and branches. People also like to have a Christmas tree in the living-room. This is a very small fir tree decorated with silver paper and colored lights.
Although everyone enjoys Christmas Day, it is particularly enjoyed by children, who get very excited because of the presents they know they are going to receive. Small children believe that their presents are bought by Father Christmas. Father Christmas（4） is a kind old man who, the children are told, lives at the North Pole. He travels through the sky on a sledge（5） which is pulled by the reindeer and loaded with presents. Stopping on the roofs of houses, he enters by climbing down the chimney. When small children go to bed on Christmas Eve, they hang a stocking at the end of their beds. Their parents warn them anything. When they wake up they find their stockings filled with presents. Children are very excited on Christmas morning and always wake up early.
Every family has its own traditions at Christmas. Some exchange presents around the Christmas morning. Others put all the presents around the Christmas tree and wait until evening before giving them out. But all families have a huge Christmas dinner---usually at midday. If they can afford it they have a turkey and ham, followed by Christmas pudding.
Christmas is a family celebration. As many of the family as possible gather together to eat, play party games and, these days, watch the special Christmas programs on TV.
Everyone gets two or three days off work for Christmas. In Britain the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day. （6） This is a great day for sports, and many go out to watch football matches, etc. But most people stay at home and have a lazy day.

Notes:
1. decoration 装饰
2. pudding 布丁（一种松软的甜食）
3. in advance 提前
4. Father Christmas 圣诞老人
5. sledge 雪橇
6. Boxing Day first weekday after Christmas Day节礼日 （圣诞节次日，该节日往往给邮差等“节礼”）

Questions:
1. what is the biggest festival in the west?
2. Why do shop owners like Christmas?
3. When do they normally start making preparations?
4. How do people decorate their homes for Christmas?
5. What are children told about Father Christmas?
6. When de people exchange gifts?
7. What is the traditional Christmas dinner?