为表达全国各族人民对抗击新冠肺炎疫情斗争牺牲烈士和逝世同胞的深切哀悼，国务院发布公告，决定2020年4月4日举行全国性哀悼活动。China will hold a national mourning Saturday for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and compatriots died of the disease, according to the State Council.
在此期间，全国和驻外使领馆下半旗志哀，全国停止公共娱乐活动。
During the commemoration, national flags will fly at half-mast across the country and in all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, and public recreational activities will be suspended across the country.
【单词讲解】
“下半旗”除了可以用这里的flags fly at half-mast表达之外，用flags fly at half-staff也是可以的。为什么会用mast和staff这两个词呢？因为mast本意是“桅杆”，后来也用来指“旗杆”，而staff其实是flagstaff的缩写，flagstaff相当于flagpole，本身就是“旗杆”的意思。
4月4日10时起，全国人民默哀3分钟，汽车、火车、舰船鸣笛，防空警报鸣响。
At 10:00 am Saturday, Chinese people nationwide will observe three-minute silence to mourn for the deceased, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships will wail in grief.
【单词讲解】
“默哀”比较常用的英文表达是observe (three-minute) silence (for someone)或者pay silent tribute (to someone)。Tribute可以表示“（对死者的）致敬，悼念，致哀”。例如：an obituary tribute（悼辞）；此外，tribute还可以表示“颂词”，例如：a birthday tribute（生日祝福）。
【相关词汇】
网上悼念 online tribute
吊唁簿 condolence books
评定为烈士 identified as martyrs
全国哀悼日 national day of mourning
讣告 obituary
悼文 eulogy
参考来源：新华网
（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）
来源：中国日报网
