每日英语：How to Spend Christmas in Asia
Christmas in Asia takes as many forms as the region's geographic sweep would suggest. Whether you're looking to embrace the exotic or hew to the heartwarming, here are a few sources of holiday cheer along Santa's route in the Eastern hemisphere.
exotic：异国情调，外来的，独特性 hew to：坚持，遵守 Eastern hemisphere：东半球
BALI（巴厘岛）
Surrounded by jungle and rice paddies in Ubud, Bali is about as far as one can get from a white Christmas, but for holiday escapees to the Four Seasons Bali at Sayan, that's precisely the point. Alternative festive activities here include morning trekking, Balinese cooking and meditation classes, and Hindu temple tours. Candlelit, nighttime spa packages beside the Ayung River are available for couples on Christmas Eve, and Santa arrives Christmas morning to share local crafts and sing jingles in the resort's Pici Kids Club. Western Christmas meals are accompanied by traditional Balinese music played on the wooden kolintang, to worship one's ancestors and honor the god of fertility.
rice paddy：稻田，水田 trekking：艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行 meditation：沉思，冥想，静思
trekking：多产，肥沃
BANGKOK（曼谷）
Although the banks of Bangkok's Chao Phraya River glitter most brightly from ancient Buddhist temples, that's not to say they won't put the Christmas river-cruiser in a festive mood. Among the many Christmas Eve riverboat dinner packages available in the city, Grand Pearl Cruises is a good midrange option for families, serving Thai and Western holiday dinner menus, a live band and an on-board Santa Claus dispensing surprise gifts to kids. Manohra Cruises, meanwhile, evokes a bit of old Siam. Its restored teak rice barges sail from the Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort & Spa on Dec. 24 and 25.
glitter：闪光，闪烁 dispensing：分发，配药，执行
BEIJING（北京）
The New York Harlem Singers perform holiday standards at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts on Christmas Eve. The eight-person ensemble, featuring voice, piano and percussion, is singing gospel versions of classic tunes as well as tributes to Ella Fitzgerald and Whitney Houston.
ensemble：全体，总效果，同时 percussion：叩诊，震动，碰撞 gospel：真理，信条，福音歌
HONG KONG（香港）
A Yuletide essential the world over, 'The Nutcracker' has been given a fresh interpretation at Hong Kong's Cultural Centre. Choreographer Terence Kohler and dramaturge Clair Sauran are the creative team behind the Hong Kong Ballet's new take, and Judith Yan leads the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Choreographer：舞蹈教练，舞蹈指导 dramaturge：剧作家 Sinfonietta：小交响曲，小交响乐团
MACAU（澳门）
Hip-hop artist and sometime actor Mos Def -- Yasiin Bey, as of late -- makes an improbable Christmas Eve appearance in Macau's Club Cubic. While Christmas carols aren't part of Mos Def's usual repertoire, discerning fans may remember the chorus from his 1998 single 'Body Rock' -- a sample that came from Curtis Blow's 1979 holiday hit, 'Christmas Rappin.'' Might Santa deliver a Mos Def cover of Blow's seminal Christmas jam for the Cubic party crowd? It's something to wish for.
improbable：不大可能的，未必确实的 repertoire：保留节目 discerning：有辨识的，眼光敏锐的
SEOUL（首尔）
Like most upscale hotels, the Grand Hyatt Seoul is already decked out for Christmas. One thing it has that the others don't: an on-premises, outdoor ice-skating rink. On Dec. 24 and 25, the Korea National Junior Figure Skating team makes an appearance, followed by open skating for guests and the public. Admission to the Christmas Eve event includes a buffet meal and Christmas cookies served rink-side.
decked out：光彩照人，盛装 buffet meal：自助餐
SHANGHAI（上海）
SantaCon is believed to have originated from the Santa-themed street performances of 1970s and '80s activists in Denmark and San Francisco, but these days, it's a global flashmob. The concept is simple: Participants don Santa costumes, gather at a designated place, and cavort around town en masse, spreading something like holiday cheer in the process. Most cities hold their Santa rallies in the weeks leading up to the holidays; but SantaCon is coming to Shanghai on Christmas Day this year.
flashmob：快闪族 designated：指定的，故意 cavort：欢腾，欢悦
en masse：全体的，一同地，大群的
SINGAPORE（新加坡）
Ten of Orchard Road's biggest shopping landmarks go head to head in a 'best dressed' contest this season, draping themselves in Christmassy bling. Photo opportunities on a holiday stroll -- rather than a frantic, last-minute shopping mission -- include life-size Nutcracker figurines and a street-spanning archway designed to look like the inner curve of a snow globe.
bling：锦衣珠宝 frantic：狂乱的，疯狂的 figurines：雕像，雕刻工艺品
SYDNEY（悉尼）
Morrissey, co-founder and mercurial frontman of the '80s-era band the Smiths, plays a pre-Christmas show at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday. Though he's never been known as a jolly stage presence, the 53-year-old rocker's signature baritone -- still redolent with adolescent angst, after all these years -- just might present the perfect antidote to those who are counting the days until Christmas is over.
redolent：芬芳的，有香味的 adolescent angst：青春期焦虑 baritone：男中音
antidote：解药，矫正方法
