Passage 13 美国的“黑色星期五” Black Friday in America

Step 1 阅读行不行

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In recent years, most major retailers have opened extremely early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off, followed by a weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely1 been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.

The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive2 pedestrian3 and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative4 explanation began to be offered: that “Black Friday” indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are “in the black”.

For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 am, but in the late 2000s many had crept5 to 5:00 or even 4:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers opened at midnight for the first time. In 2012, Walmart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day (except in states where opening on Thanksgiving is prohibited due to blue laws, such as Massachusetts where they still opened around midnight), prompting calls for a walkout6 among some workers.

Another New Term—Gray Thursday

In recent years, retailers have been trending towards opening on Black Thursday, occurring Thanksgiving evening. In 2011, Walmart began its holiday sale at 10:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day for the first time. In 2012, Walmart began its Black Friday sales at 8:00 pm on the day before Thanksgiving; stores that are normally open 24 hours a day on a regular basis started their sales at this time, while stores that do not have round-the-clock shopping hours opened at 8 pm. A number of media sources began referring to this instead by the name of Gray Thursday.

keywords and phrases

1 routinely /ru:'ti:nlɪ/ adv. 例行公事地；常规地；惯常地

2 disruptive /dɪsˈrʌptɪv/ adj. 分裂性的；破坏的；扰乱的

3 pedestrian /pəˈdestrɪən/ n. 步行者；行人

4 alternative /ɔ:lˈtɜ:nətɪv/adj. 不寻常的；两者择一的n. 两者择一；可供选择的事物

5 creep /kri:p/ vi. 爬行，匍匐；缓慢地行进

6 walkout /ˈwɔ:kaʊt/ n. 罢工；退席（以示抗议）

phrase to know

Thanksgiving Day 感恩节，是美国和加拿大共有的节日，源于美国。自1941年起，感恩节定在每年11月的第四个星期四，并从这一天起休假两天。这个节日的原意是为了感谢上天赐予的好收成，感谢印第安人的帮助。随着时间的推移感恩节逐渐演变成家人和朋友团聚的日子。在这一天，亲朋好友共进节日大餐，对生活表示感激。

Boxing Day 节礼日，是英格兰及威尔士的法定假日，在圣诞节次日（12月26日），遇星期日顺延，通常商家都会从这一天开始打折，因此这天也是人们抢购便宜商品的好时机。本文中，作者拿美国的感恩节与英联邦国家的节礼日作比较。

kick off 原指足球比赛时中线开球，现在这个短语可以用来表示一项活动或一个计划的开始。例如，在美国新学期开始时会先开个party，就可以说：Students kick off the semester with a party！报道的标题中也经常出现这个短语，如：World Cup to Kick Off in Nigeria. 美国人还经常用kick off来表示竞选活动的开始。

Step 2 手写行不行

★ 该呼叫中心每天要处理各种各样的咨询。(a wide variety of)

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★ 人们的不满会引发暴力和破坏性行为。(disruptive)

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★ 在这座小镇，深夜很少会见到行人。(pedestrian)

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★ 工人们被告知需要另找其他解决办法。(alternative)

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★ 蛇悄悄溜走了，藏进了洞里。(creep away)

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★ 员工罢工一天以争取更好的工作环境。(walkout)

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Step 3 口语行不行

Q1 Do you prefer western festivals or traditional Chinese festivals？你更喜欢西方的节日还是传统的中国节日？

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Q2 What is your favorite festival in China？你最喜欢中国的哪一个节日？

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Q3 Why is Black Friday the busiest shopping day？为什么黑色星期五是最繁忙的购物日？

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试题解答篇

Step 2 手写行不行答案

1．The call center routinely handles a wide variety of enquiries.

2．People's discontent can produce violent, disruptive behavior.

3．In the small town a pedestrian is a rare spectacle at midnight.

4．The workers are advised to seek alternative solutions.

5．The snake crept away and hided in a hole.

6．The staff staged a one-day walkout to fight for better working conditions.

Step 3 口语行不行答案

1．I prefer traditional Chinese festivals. Traditional festivals are particular icons of profound Chinese culture. They are the most precious intangible cultural heritage that we have carried down from our ancestors. We have responsibilities of protecting and rejuvenating them so that our offspring can enjoy and learn them in the long future, or the festivals will disappear into the mists of time. Besides, traditional festivals are offering us the most important occasions of family reunion and expansion of social connection. Although some western festivals are gaining ever-increasing popularity in China, I still give priority to the preservation and development of traditional Chinese festivals.

2．My favorite festival is Qixi Festival, which is also known as the Double Seventh Day or Chinese Valentine's Day. It falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. It is also named the Qiqiao Festival, Young Women's Day, or Daughter's Day, as most participants of this festival are young women and the most popular activity is to plead for skills. As the most romantic day among traditional Chinese festivals, Qixi Festival is favored by young women who demonstrate their domestic arts, pray for happiness, wealth and longevity, and make wishes for a good husband. Therefore, the day is also now known as Chinese Valentine's Day.

3．Black Friday is popular as the busiest shopping day for a combination of reasons. As the first day after the last major holiday before Christmas, it marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season. Additionally, many employers give their employees the day off as part of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In order to take advantage of this, virtually all retailers in the country, big and small, offer various sales. All these contributes to the popularity of Black Friday.