Why do the British wear paper hats at Christmas lunch?
为什么英国人 圣诞节 要戴纸帽子?
All over Britain on Christmas Day, families can be found sitting around their dining tables enjoying a traditional lunch of roast turkey with all the trimmings - and all, regardless of age, wearing coloured paper hats. It is rumoured that even the Queen wears her paper hat over lunch!
圣诞节 当天，全英国的家庭都会坐在餐桌前，吃一顿传统的圣诞大餐，塞满了各种馅料的烤火鸡。无论年龄老幼，所有人都会在头上戴一顶彩色纸做成的纸帽子。据说，就连伊莉莎白女王也会戴纸帽子哦!
So why this quaint tradition? Where do these paper hats come from? The answer is the Christmas Cracker.
那为什么会有这个古怪的传统呢?戴纸帽子的传统来源于哪里?答案就在另一项圣诞传统活动——圣诞拉炮!
A Christmas Cracker is a cardboard paper tube, wrapped in brightly coloured paper and twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that react with friction so that when the cracker is pulled apart by two people, the cracker makes a bang.
圣诞拉炮是用硬纸板做的纸筒，再用色彩鲜艳的彩纸包裹在外面，两端拧紧。在拉炮里会有一个爆竹，当两个人拉动拉炮两端时，拉炮里的两条浸渍纸就会发生摩擦，发出“嘣”的响声。
Inside the cracker there is a paper crown made from tissue paper, a motto or joke on a slip of paper and a little gift.
拉炮里会装有纸做的皇冠、写在纸上的名言或笑话，还会有一些小礼物