众所周知，西方人对于圣诞节的重视程度不亚于国人对春节的关注度。那雅思考试时间安排在圣诞节前后，雅思考官又是一个什么心态呢？就此话题，目前雅思坛的广大考生也分为两派。一是支持在此时间段考试，原因是考官心情好，分数会多给。另一种说法是考官也思念家乡，渴望团聚，所以考生的分数会受到考官心情的影响。到底哪一种说法是正确的？真是婆说婆有理，公说公有理。

虽然很多考生讨论的重点是圣诞节影响考官的心情，让我们看看往年考题的回忆总结以及以往的考生回忆整理。大部分考生，特别是一年中多次参加雅思考试的考生认为考试难易度相当，特别是雅思听力，口语，写作这三项笔试题与平时考试没有区别。雅思口语考试的时候有部分考生的话题是关于春节圣诞之类的。对于提前准备此类话题的考生可能会觉得简单一些。烤鸭们如果有在圣诞节前后考试的，要早早准备哦~

December 25

The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian (美索不达米亚) celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk(马杜克,古代巴比伦人的主神,原为巴比伦的太阳神). Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.

The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.

To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.

The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades (化妆舞会) in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).

"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination (深恶痛绝) to honor the pagan (异教) god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail (徒劳). Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism (密特拉教，奉祀密特拉神的宗教，纪元后最初3世纪内传至罗马帝国) was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.