Culture: St Patrick’s Day 文化：圣帕特里克日
[audio]http://file.24en.com/bbc/tae/furniture_816824/bbc_st_patricks_day.mp3[/audio][color=#3f3f3f][font=Verdana, 宋体, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=12px]All of the countries in the British Isles have a [b]patron saint’s day[/b] but the biggest celebrations are always held on March 17th, Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day.
[p=21, 2, left]For people who live in Ireland and Northern Ireland it is a national holiday, but in the wider world it is seen as an opportunity to explore one of the most [b]emblematic aspects[/b] of Irish culture – getting[b] boozed up[/b].[/p][p=21, 2, left]The preferred [b]tipple[/b] for most people on St Patrick’s Day is a [b]pint[/b] of[b] Irish stout[/b], a heavy, black beer, although others may [b]plump for[/b] a glass of Irish whiskey.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Like the Chinese, the Irish have a long history of [b]economic migration[/b], and have [b]settled[/b] in many countries around the world, particularly in the USA.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Because of their large populations of people of [b]Irish descent[/b], cities like New York and Boston have enormous St Patrick’s Day [b]parades[/b], where hundreds of thousands of [b]marchers[/b] and millions of [b]spectators[/b] parade through the city.[/p][p=21, 2, left]The colour green is [b]predominant[/b] on St Patrick’s Day as that is the national colour of Ireland, which is sometimes called the [b]Emerald Isle[/b].[/p][p=21, 2, left]As any traveller knows, Ireland is a very green, [b]rural[/b] country, thanks to the amount of rainfall, with some areas seeing rain for 225 days in a year.[/p][p=21, 2, left]This year even the President of the United States joined in the fun by adding [b]green dye[/b] to the [b]fountains[/b] in the White House gardens.[/p][p=21, 2, left]But the American city of Chicago goes even further; since 1961 the Chicago River has been dyed green on St Patrick’s Day.[/p][p=21, 2, left]The tradition began by accident after a [b]plumber[/b], who was using dye to detect [b]leaks[/b] into the river, discovered his orange dye turned green when mixed with water.[/p][p=21, 2, left]City officials decided to add dye to the river to [url=http://d.24en.com/s/?wd=celebrate]celebrate[/url] St Patrick’s Day, however during the first attempt they used too much dye and turned the river bright green for a week.[/p][/size][/font][/color]
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