各国节日7
2008-05-12 23:32:52
Deaf-Blind Awareness Week（海伦•凯勒周）
June 27, 2000, is the 120th anniversary of the birth of Helen Keller, and each year the week in which her birthday falls is recognized as Deaf-Blind Awareness Week. In honor of Helen Keller -- and other members of the deaf-blind community, this week is dedicated to the deaf-blind. According to the Helen Keller National Center (HKNC), about 70,000 people have hearing and vision loss. More than a decade ago, Deaf-Blind Awareness Week became an event officially recognized by the Federal government. The story of Helen Keller is well known. Born on June 27, 1880, the healthy infant was developing normally. But at the age of 19 months, an illness left her deaf and blind. When Helen was six, her equally famous teacher, Anne Sullivan, was able to teach her to communicate. Helen Keller went on to excel in all aspects of her life: graduating from college with honors and writing, lecturing, and inspiring people worldwide. The next is the proclamation of Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week made by US president Ronald Reagan: Proclamation 5214 -- Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week Inadequate education, training, and rehabilitation for those who are deaf and blind may prevent these Americans from becoming independent and self-sufficient, thereby greatly limiting their life potential and imposing a high economic and social cost on the Nation. We must prevent such problems among our deaf-blind citizens by fostering their independence, creating employment opportunities, and encouraging their contributions to our society. Crucial to fulfilling this urgent national need is research on the disorders that cause deafness and blindness. Toward this end, the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the National Eye Institute as well as a number of voluntary health agencies are supporting a wide range of investigative projects that one day may provide the clues to curing and preventing these devastating disorders. On June 27 we commemorate the 104th anniversary of the birth of Helen Keller, America's most renowned and respected deaf-blind person. Her accomplishments serve as a beacon of courage and hope for our Nation, symbolizing what deaf-blind people can achieve. In order to encourage public recognition of and compassion for the complex problems caused by deaf-blindness and to emphasize the potential contribution of deaf-blind persons to our Nation, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 261, has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation designating the last week in June 1984 as ``Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week.'' Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning June 24, 1984, as Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week. I call upon all government agencies, health organizations, communications media, and people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities. In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth. Ronald Reagan World Environment Day（世界环境日） World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Another resolution, adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led to the creation of UNEP（联合国环境规划署United Nations Environment Programme）. Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Ministers of Environment deliver statements and commit themselves to care for the Earth. More serious pledges are made which lead to the establishment of permanent governmental structures dealing with environmental management and economic planning. This observance also provides an opportunity to sign or ratify international environmental conventions. World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The World Environment Day theme selected for 2004 is Wanted! Seas and Oceans - Dead or Alive? The theme asks that we make a choice as to how we want to treat the Earth's seas and oceans. It also calls on each and every one of us to act. Do we want to keep seas and oceans healthy and alive or polluted and dead? The main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2004 will be held in Barcelona, Spain in close collaboration with the Universal Forum of Cultures. UNEP is honoured that the City of Barcelona, the Catalan Regional Government and the Government of Spain will be hosting this important United Nations day. Previous Themes 2003 Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It! 水－20亿人生命之所系！ 2002 Give Earth a Chance 使地球充满生机！ 2001 Connect with the World Wide Web of Life 用全球网络联接世界万物！ 2000 The Environment Millennium - Time to Act 环境新纪元，时候已到，行动起来！ 1999 Our Earth - Our Future - Just Save It! 拯救地球就是拯救未来！ 1998 For Life on Earth - Save Our Seas 为了地球上的生命，拯救我们的海洋 1997 For Life on Earth 为了地球上的生命 1996 Our Earth, Our Habitat, Our Home 我们的地球、我们的生境、我们的家园 1995 We the Peoples: United for the Global Environment 我们世界各族人民：为保护全球环境而携手努力！ 1994 One Earth One Family 我们的地球－我们的家园 1993 Poverty and the Environment - Breaking the Vicious Circle 贫困与环境－打破这一恶性循环 1992 Only One Earth, Care and Share 只有一个地球－让我们关爱和分享它 1991 Climate Change. Need for Global Partnership 需要为应付气候变化而建立全球伙伴关系 1990 Children and the Environment 儿童与环境 Flag Day（美国国旗日） National flags are not merely symbols of a country. Their colors and designs convey past history and future goals. Flags have powerful connotations（内涵）. They speak to the people and politicians. People of one country will burn the flag of another with whose politics they do not agree. To show their anger, students display their own nation's flags with the design altered or cut out completely. Dictators fly flags; dissidents（持不同政见者） rip them down. In every country of the world, the treatment of a flag displays an opinion or statement.
Americans take the treatment of their flag seriously and in the 20th century this has become an important issue. Included in the code of ethics are such rules as the national flag cannot be used for advertising. It cannot cover a monument or any ceilings. It must not be folded while being displayed. No one should write on an American flag. Ships can lower their flags slightly in greeting each other, but otherwise should not be dipped for any other object or person. In the late 1960s, American students wore small flags sewn to the back of their jeans, symbolically insulting the American government and protesting its involvement in the Vietnam War. They burned the American flag in front of the Capitol Building（国会大厦）in Washington as a statement of protest. In the early 1990s, senators suggested an amendment to the Constitution（宪法）that would make this treatment of the flag illegal. The proposition（提议、议案）was opposed because many others felt that this change would be a violation of Americans' constitutional rights to express their opinions freely. For all the controversy it is interesting to point out that the United States did not even have a standardized flag until 1912! Called the "Stars and Stripes," or "Old Glory," the flag is one of the most complicated in the world. No other flag needs 64 pieces of fabric to make. The current flag has 13 red and white alternating（交互的）stripes (representing the original 13 states) and 50 stars (each star represents one of the states of the Union) on a blue background. The American flag has also changed designs more than any other flag in the world. The first flag, called the Grand Union, was first flown at the headquarters of the Continent Army on January 1, 1776. Betsy Ross, a seamstress(女裁缝), is said to have contributed to this design. She had an upholstery（室内装潢）business which made flags for navy ships in Pennsylvania. A legend still persists that she showed George Washington how to make a five-pointed star and suggested thirteen stars in a circle for the first flag. Her descendants claimed that she offered the design. Actually, she and George Washington never met! George Washington did design the Grand Union. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress proposed that the United States have a national flag instead of the British Union Jack. The 13 stars of the flag represented the 13 new states. There were few public ceremonies honoring the Stars and Stripes until 1877, when on, June 14, it was flown from every government building in honor of the centennial（百年纪念）of the adoption of a national flag. Schools had unfurled（展示）American flags over their doors or outside the buildings long before this; but in 1890, North Dakota and New Jersey made a law that required their schools to fly the flag daily. The first official Flag Day was observed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1893. New York also proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day 1897. Other states were slow to follow. Some people thought that the day was too close to Memorial Day and Independence Day. In August 1949, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day. Since then the President proclaims the commemoration（纪念会）yearly, and encourages all Americans in the country to display the Stars and Stripes outside their homes and businesses. Individual states determine how they will observe the day. In Pennsylvania and American Samoa it is a public holiday. Usually the flag is flown from all public buildings, speeches are made in public places and ceremonies take place in towns or cities Memorial Day（美国阵亡将士纪念日） It was 1866 and the United States was recovering from the long and bloody Civil War between the North and the South. Surviving soldiers came home, some with missing limbs, and all with stories to tell. Henry Welles, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, New York, heard the stories and had an idea. He suggested that all the shops in town close for one day to honor the soldiers who were killed in the Civil War and were buried in the Waterloo cemetery. On the morning of May 5, the townspeople placed flowers, wreaths（花环）and crosses on the graves of the Northern soldiers in the cemetery. At about the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan planned another ceremony, this time for the soldiers who survived the war. He led the veterans through town to the cemetery to decorate their comrades' graves with flags. It was not a happy celebration, but a memorial. The townspeople called it Decoration Day.
The two ceremonies were joined in 1868, and northern states commemorated the day on May 30. The southern states commemorated their war dead on different days. Children read poems and sang civil war songs and veterans came to school wearing their medals and uniforms to tell students about the Civil War. Then the veterans marched through their home towns followed by the townspeople to the cemetery. They decorated graves and took photographs of soldiers next to American flags. Rifles were shot in the air as a salute to the northern soldiers who had given their lives to keep the United States together. In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day and soldiers who had died in previous wars were honored as well. In the northern United States, it was designated a public holiday. In 1971, along with other holidays, President Richard Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday on the last Monday in May. Cities all around the United States hold their own ceremonies on the last Monday in May to pay respect to the men and women who have died in wars or in the service of their country. Memorial Day is not limited to honor only those Americans from the armed forces. It is also a day for personal remembrance. Families and individuals honor the memories of their loved ones who have died. Church services, visits to the cemetery, flowers on graves or even silent tribute mark the day with dignity and solemnity. It is a day of reflection. However, to many Americans the day also signals the beginning of summer with a three-day weekend to spend at the beach, in the mountains or at home relaxing. In Waterloo, New York, the origin has not been lost and in fact the meaning has become even more special. President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Waterloo the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1966, 100 years after the first commemoration. Every May 30, townspeople still walk to the cemeteries and hold memorial services. They decorate the graves with flags and flowers. Then they walk back to the park in the middle of town. In the middle of the park, near a monument dedicated to soldiers, sailors and marines, the Gettysburg address is read, followed by Retired Major General Logan's Order # 11 designating Decoration Day. The village choirs sing patriotic songs. In the evening, school children take part in a parade. Arlington National Cemetery（美国阿林顿国家公墓）in Virginia is the nation's largest national cemetery. Not only are members of the armed forces buried here; astronauts, explorers and other distinguished Americans have all been honored with a special place here. President John F. Kennedy is buried in a spot overlooking Washington, D.C.. Here in the early hours of the Friday morning before Memorial Day, soldiers of the Third U.S. infantry walk along the rows of headstones. Each soldier stops at a headstone, reaches to a bundle of flags he is carrying, pulls one out and pushes it into the ground. These soldiers are part of a special regiment. the Old Guard. Most consider it a privilege to place flags on the more than two hundred thousand graves of soldiers who served in the wars or who died in them. "They have done their job," said one soldier, "and now it's my turn to do mine." It is an equal honor to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier all year. There are actually four soldiers buried in this spot: the unknown soldiers of the two World Wars, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam War. Each soldier represents all of those who gave their lives in the modern wars. Soldiers from the Army's Third Infantry guard the tomb twenty-four hours a day. Wreath-laying ceremonies take place all through the year and people from all over the world come to watch the changing of the guard. On another hill of Arlington Cemetery there is a mass grave of unidentified soldiers from the Civil War. On Memorial Day, the President or Vice President of the United States gives a speech and lays a wreath on the tombs. Members of the armed forces shoot a rifle salute in the air. Veterans and families come to lay their own wreaths and say prayers. There is a chance that one of the soldiers buried here is a father, son, brother or friend. Some southern states continue to celebrate Memorial Day on various days, i.e. June 3rd in Louisiona and Tennessee called "Confederate Memorial Day" and on May 10th in North and South Carolina. Shavuot（息汪月） Shavuot, the Feast of the Weeks, is the Jewish holiday celebrating the harvest season in Israel. Shavuot, which means "weeks", refers to the timing of the festival which is held exactly 7 weeks after Passover. Shavuot is known also as Yom Habikkurim, or "the Day of the First Fruits", because it is the time the farmers of Israel would bring their first harvest to Jerusalem as a token of thanksgiving. Celebrating the Day of the First Fruits The farmers of Israel would begin their spring harvests with the barley crop at Passover. The harvest continued for seven weeks as the other crops and fruits began to ripen. As each fruit ripened, the first of each type would not be eaten but instead the farmer would tie a ribbon around the the branch. This ribbon signified that these fruits were Bikkurim, or the first fruits. At Shavuot the farmers would gather the Bikkurim into baskets and bring them to the city of Jerusalem where they would be eaten in the holy city. The farmers living close to Jerusalem would bring fresh fruits, while those who had to travel a long distance carried dried raisins and figs. This joyful occasion was celebrated with the music of fifes, timbres, and drums. As the pilgrims approached the city walls they were greeted by the inhabitants of the city. Sometimes the King himself would join the procession to the Temple Mount. The Bikkurim ritual is no longer practiced in present day Israel.
Every year the last week of June is devoted to one thing--recognition of the deaf-blind people in our midst. While the purpose of Deaf-Blind Awareness Week is to pay homage to Helen Keller, the deaf-blind woman who was born that week, the week focuses on increasing public awareness and understanding of deaf-blindness.
June 22, 1984
By the President of the United States of America
Our eyes and ears provide vital ways of interacting with the world around us. The lilt of laughter, the beat of a brass band, the smile of a friend, and the poetry of a landscape are but a few of the life blessings that our senses of sight and hearing help us to enjoy. But for some 40,000 Americans who can neither see nor hear, the world can be a prison of darkness and silence.
World Environment Day can be celebrated in many ways, including street rallies, bicycles parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more.
Shavuot also commemorates the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
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