Chinese people call the Spring Festival"Nian". But do you know that Nian was once the name of a monster ? A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It ate animals. But in winter, it could not find food. So it came to villages and ate a lot of people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their doors before evening came during the winter. One day, an old man came to a village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things----the color red, fire and noise. He told people to play drums and gongs, make big fires and set off fireworks to make Nian go away. On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was really afraid and ran away. wherever it went, there was noise and fire. When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster. After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs, and set off fireworks to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They put up red lanterns and have a big dinner without sleeping during the night. In the morning people greet each other happily. So now we have the Spring Festival.

1. What did the monster Nian eat most of they year?
2. What did it eat in the winter?
3. How did people try to protect themselves in the winter, before the old man gave them advice?
4. How did Nian feel about noise?
5. How did the people use that to their advantage?
6. Did Nian have any colors it was afraid of?
7. What instruments did people use to scare the monster away?
8. When they celebrate the death of the monster what do they make noise with?
9. What decorations do they put up then?
10. Is food involved in the celebrations?
11. Are the celebrations held throughout the night?
12. Who gave the people information that they used to help kill the monster?
1. animals
2. people
3. locked their doors
4. afraid
5. people killed the monster
6. red
7. drums and gongs
8. drums and gongs
9. red lantern
10. yes
11. yes
12. an old man