每年的11月23日或24日为小雪。这个节气之后,北方常伴有雪量不大的降雪,呈现一派初冬景象。
The day of Light Snow falls on the 23th or 24th day of every November. After this day, the north of China can always see flurries of snow and the scenes of early winter appear.
小雪节气中,北方人感受着冬天的萧瑟,长江中下游地区的人们则经历着初冬的湿冷,南方雨量与北方相比偏多,一般初雪要到12月中下旬才有,但这个时候的阴雨天气给人的感受更为湿冷,这种感觉和干冷有供暖条件的北方地区相比要难受得多。即便是远在四季如夏的海南,蕉农也不得不给香蕉穿上"防寒服",防止香蕉被冻伤。
On the day of Light Snow, people in the north see desolate winter scenes, while the habitants in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River are experiencing the humid and cold weather in the early winter. It rains more in the south than in the north. Although the snowy days can only be seen after the middle and late December, the rainy weather around the day of Light Snow makes people even colder and wetter, which is worse than the feeling they have in the northern areas where they can be warmed up with central heating in the house to resist the dry coldness outside. Even in Hainan province where it is summer all year round, the banana farmers have to dress the trees with "clothes" to keep them from the cold air.
在天气湿冷时,适当吃一些温补性食物很有益处,如羊肉、牛肉等,但在这个节气里,室内比较温暖,外面寒冷,人们穿得严实,体内的热气散发不出去,就容易生"内火",也就是人们常说的上火。而白菜、萝卜都是当季食物,富含维生素及多种微量元素,白萝卜能清火降气、消食,非常适合这个节气里食用。
When it is cold and damp outside, it is good to eat some temperately tonifying food, such as mutton and beef. In this period of time, people are easy to have excessive "internal heat" because it is much warmer in the house than in the open air and they always wear so much that the "internal heat" is hard to come out. Cabbages and radishes are the vegetables in season at the time which are rich in vitamin and other micronutrients. Chinese white radish, as a very appropriate food to eat in this period of time, can reduce excessive internal heat, repress upward perversion of Qi, and help digestion.