第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

第四段：
It's thought Halloween started with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would wear costumes and roam to ward of ghosts, but it's down to Pope Gregory III's decree in the eight century that we celebrate it as we do.

第十二段：
Over time it's become a secular festival best known for children donning costumes and masks to scare others witless and garner treats. Of course, the tradition made its way to America. By the nineteenth century, with the influx of immigrants, Halloween took over most of the country. America's would visit neighbours and ask for food which later became known as "trick or treating".

第十五段：
What started out as animal skins and heads has turned into something a little less gruesome now.

第二十段：
He trapped the Devil, only letting him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell.

第二十一段：
However, when he died, Jack learned that Heaven was out due to his devilish dealings, so he was condemned to wander the earth as a ghost for all eternity.

第二十四段：
Dale Porch was coming back from working the overnight shift on November 2, when he collapsed on the porch steps.

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

True story behind All Souls and All Saints, why we celebrate and terrifying facts

第一段：
Tucked between the cold nights of winter and the falling leaves of autumn we have Halloween - a time of celebration and superstition.

• tuck 藏匿
• superstition 迷信

第二段：
But where did the spooky day come from and why do we celebrate it?

• spooky 幽灵一般的

第三段：
The spookiest time of the year isn't just a time for kids to dress up and trick or treat.

第四段：
It's thought Halloween started with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would wear costumes and roam to ward of ghosts, but it's down to Pope Gregory III's decree in the eight century that we celebrate it as we do.

• Celtic 凯尔特人
• Samhain 萨温节(古代凯尔特人的祭司的秋收节)
• Decree 法令

第五段：

Why do we celebrate Halloween?

Samhain (sow-in) marked the end of summer and the harvest and heralded in the colder months. Celts believed that on the night before the new year the boundaries between world of the living and the dead become blurred.

• herald 预报，标志
• boundary 边界，分界线

第六段：
Traditionally people wore costumes, animal skins and heads and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. By 43 AD the Roman Empire had conquered most of the Celtic territory and over the years of their reign they combined their festivals with the Celtic's.

第七段：
The first was Feralia, a day late in October where Romans marked the passing of the dead. The second was Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees. The symbol for Pomona is an apple - and people see this as the reason "bobbing apples" became a tradition associated with Halloween.

• bobbing 摇摆的

第八段：
It was in 609 AD that Christianity changed the festival to add praying for the dead.

第九段：
The Pope designated November 1 as a time to honour the saints and martyrs, a holiday that became known as All Saints Day. The day took on some of the Samhain traditions. The evening became known as All Hallows Eve - Halloween.

• designate 指定
• martyr 烈士，殉道者

第十段：
The next day, November 2, is All Souls Day, when the dead are remembered. To Christians, All Souls Day is a time for people to pray for the dead. The tradition was based on the idea of purgatory - a stage between heaven and hell. It also begins 'the month of the dead', which takes place in November in the Christian tradition.

• purgatory灵魂的净化；涤罪

第十一段：
It was thought Christians were trying to make the day a sanctioned Church holiday but All Souls Day kept many of the Samhain traditions.

• sanction 批准，支持

第十二段：
Over time it's become a secular festival best known for children donning costumes and masks to scare others witless and garner treats. Of course, the tradition made it's way to America. By the nineteenth century, with the influx of immigrants, Halloween took over most of the country. America's would visit neighbours and ask for food which later became known as "trick or treating".

• secular世俗的；现世的
• witless 无知的，愚蠢的
• garner 贮藏

第十三段：
While Halloween went out of fashion in the 1800s and was seen as a pagan belief, it wasn't long before it returned and became what we know and celebrate today.

• pagan 异教徒

第十四段：

3 Halloween facts to spook you out

1. Dress up and scare off the evil spirits

You might think putting on a mask is just for the kids, but it was actually adopted by pagans in the community during Samhain to scare off evil spirits.

第十五段：
What started out as animal skins and heads has turned into something a little less gruesome now.

• gruesome 可怕的

第十六段：
It was hoped that wandering spirits seeing people in their weird disguises would assume they were also spirits - and let them go free.

• disguise 伪装物

第十七段：

2. Jack O'Lanterns were originally made from turnips

The British tradition of carving a scary face into a vegetable was originally done with turnips.

• Jack O'Lantern  杰克南瓜灯
• turnip 芜菁

第十八段：
When Irish immigrants took the idea of the Jack O'Lantern to America, they started using pumpkins, because they were cheaper than turnips.

第十九段：
The legend of Stingy Jack inspired the carving.

第二十段：
He trapped the Devil, only letting him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell.

第二十一段：
However, when he died, Jack learned that Heaven was out due to his devilish dealings, so he was condemned to wander the earth as a ghost for all eternity.

• condemn 判刑

第二十二段：
Gifted Jack a lump of burning coal by the Devil, Jack carried it round in a carved-out turnip to light his way.

• lump 块，团

第二十三段：

3. Halloween decoration or a real live body - people have made mistakes

You might think that the skeleton decorations are all a bit of fun, but in 2012, a postman thought a corpse was part of the Halloween display - but it was actually the resident of the house, who had died.

• skeleton 骷髅

第二十四段：
Dale Porch was coming back from working the overnight shift on November 2, when he collapsed on the porch steps.

第二十五段：
The 46-year-old's family was distraught and felt the postman should have done something.

• distraught 忧心如焚的