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  在本栏目我们回顾历史上本周发生的重要事件—8的意义,听听下面的短文,做做下面的练习,学习一些相关的英语表达形式。

  本周是08月08日至08月12日历史上发生的事件。
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The 8th of August 2008 is a very lucky day in Chinese culture. The number eight sounds similar to the Chinese word for prosperity and three sounds like life. Consequently, 8/8/08 signifies lifelong prosperity.The openingceremony of the Beijing Olympics will begin at 8:08 pm on 8/8/08, which is a Friday.
In Chinese culture, seven is unlucky because of its association with death but in the West seven is often associated with good luck and for some people it has mystical or religious associations. It's a prime number, though so are 3, 11 and 13,267 for example. Seven appears frequently in the Bible, and there are seven days in a week, seven wonders of the world, seven seas, seven sins and seven virtues, seven years bad luck, seven dwarves, the Boeing 777 and winning numbers in craps, slot machines and blackjack, where three times seven is a blackjack. American Indians have seven directions, Christianity has seven sacraments and Hinduism believes in seven chakras. Then there's the world's most popular boy wizard. The seventh Harry Potter book came out on the 21st day, that's three sevens, of July, 2007.

For some it is just another day, but in the USA more than 38,000 couples were listed as marrying on July 7, 2007 which is more than three times the average for a Saturday in July and in China many mothers to be are hoping to have their babies on the 8th of August 2008.

In the USA it's not just Chinese couples that are considering to get married on 8/8/08. Couples like dates such as these because they sound cool, and are easy to remember. And while Friday weddings are less popular, they are often cheaper!

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