講解

TODAY’s key word is National day
National day 國慶節

The National Day is a designated(特定的) date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation。

Here is an example:
Several new movies will be performed on National Day.
國慶節期間將有幾部新電影上映。

這期節目我們就來看看各個國家的national day.
首先，必須先來說一下我天朝的國慶節。（Soundbites）

National Day of China

The National Day of the People's Republic of China is a public holiday and is celebrated annually on October 1.
說到國慶節，估計大部分人的第一反應就是放假，7天假期。
Talking about national day, where is this phrase originally come from?
在很久很久以前，古代中國人把皇帝即位、誕辰稱為“國慶”。“國慶”一詞，本指國家喜慶之事，最早見于西晉。到了今天，我們一般稱國家建立的紀念日為國慶節。然而，并不是每個國家都有國慶節。

比如說，英國。

Currently the UK has no single official national day, although the Queen's Official Birthday is used for this purpose in some contexts.
大不列顛每年有很多節日，但并沒有像我們一樣的正式的國慶節。所以，女皇的生日有時候就會被當做國慶節來慶祝了。

By the way, the present queen, Elizabeth II, has became the longest-reigning British monarch (君王) on 9 September 2015. She also the nation's oldest ever monarch, officially surpassed(超過) the 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne.
63年7個月2天16個小時23分鐘，英國人民為了統計個時間也是蠻拼的。

再來說說美國，他們的國慶節叫做Independence Day, also referred to as Fourth of July。 獨立日。日期每年7月4日，以紀念1776年7月4日大陸會議在費城正式通過《獨立宣言》。
Some celebrities(名人) in the United States has read the Declaration of Independence years ago.

Let’s listen it together.

“All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”

In the world, almost every country has the national day.
一個國家的建立常常是經歷了很多的磨礪和考驗，中國也不例外。

A lot of people have sacrificed their lives for the country. Your great great grandpa or grandpa may be one of those heroes. So during this National day holiday in China, it is nice to spend several minutes to think about the reason why are we celebrating this holiday.

Then enjoy the holidays！