When people emerge from residential hibernation the day after Thanksgiving, they pour into shopping centers. Consumers spent an estimated $59.6 billion over the holiday weekend in 2018, bolstering the bottom line for retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and online outlets.
感恩節後的第二天，像在家裡冬眠中一樣的人們醒來以後，便紛紛湧入購物中心。 2018年假日周末，顧客們估計消費了596億美元，為沃爾瑪，塔吉特，百思買和在線商店等零售商提高了利潤。
hibernation n. 冬眠；越冬；冬蟄；蟄伏。bolster v. 改善;加強;n. 墊枕(長而厚);
If Black Friday is such a financial benefit, why is it called Black Friday? That modifier was usually reserved for cash-draining events like the Black Thursday that precipitated the 1929 stock market crash or the 1869 gold market collapse that led to financial ruin.
如果黑色星期五能帶來如此經濟利益，那為什麼將其稱為黑色星期五呢？這樣的修辭常見於現金消耗大事件，例如黑色星期四引發了1929年的股市崩盤或是1869年的黃金市場崩盤而導致的金融危機。
It turns out that the label didn’t always have the positive holiday spending connotation it enjoys today.
事實證明，這種標籤並不總是具有積極的假日消費含義。
connotation n. 含義；隱含意義。
Beginning in the 1950s, according to Snopes, employers and media began observing the trend of people calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving—traditionally not a paid holiday—to give themselves a four-day weekend. For businesses, that Friday was indeed bleak, as productivity slowed to a crawl. (Eventually, offices capitulated and gave employees the day off.)
根據Snopes的說法，從上世紀50年代開始，僱主們和媒體開始觀察到一個趨勢，人們在感恩節之後的一天（通常不是帶薪假期）會打電話請病假，以給自己一個四天的周末。對於企業而言，周五的確令人沮喪，因為生產力下降了。 （最終，辦公室屈服了，讓員工們放了一天假。）
Snopes是美國一家專門核查並揭穿謠言和傳聞的網站。calling in sick，請病假。bleak 英adj. 不樂觀的;無望的;暗淡的;陰冷的;無遮掩的;荒涼的;索然無味的。slowed to a crawl，進展緩慢。
Law enforcement also had reason to be disgruntled with that Friday. With everyone skipping work and kids off of school, traffic in major cities became a problem. Police in Philadelphia who were forced to deal with logjams and work mandatory shifts to cope with the congestion started to dread the day. Again, the 「Black Friday」 label seemed appropriate.
執法部門也由此而對那個周五感到不滿。由於每個人都不工作，孩子們不上學，大城市的交通也成為一個問題。費城的警察被迫處理僵局並採取強制性措施以應對交通擁堵，這一天開始變得令人恐懼。同樣，「黑色星期五」的標籤就似乎很貼合了。
logjam n. (河面上) 漂浮原木造成的阻塞;(因事情太多造成的) 困境，僵局。congestion n. (交通) 擁塞;塞車;充血;淤血。dread v. 非常害怕； 極為擔心； n. 恐懼； 令人懼怕的事物。
Eventually, this negative term spread to media and via word-of-mouth. Retailers in Philadelphia even tried to rephrase it to 「Big Friday」 to avoid the association with disaster. But it was Black Friday that stuck. It soon became synonymous with record profits, and the term was permanently adopted for the frenzied rush of shoppers using their day off to get their shopping done.
最終，這個負面術語通過口碑傳播到媒體。費城的零售商甚至試圖換個說法叫「大星期五」，以避免與災難聯繫在一起。但黑色星期五根深蒂固了。它很快就成為利潤創紀錄的代名詞，這個術語永遠被用於描述顧客利用休假來瘋狂購物的情景。