新年快樂！2020年了，大家是不是又立了很多flag，學英語、減肥、健身、演講……英語裡把這些決心要在新年裡做到的事叫New Year’s resolution。所以新年快到時大家比較流行問：Have you made any New Year's resolution?（你有什麼新年決心嗎？）回答很可能是 I haven't made any New Year resolutions - I never stick to them anyway. （我沒有，反正我也做不到）。中文裡，可以將New Year’s resolution翻譯為：新年決心。這裡的resolution，由動詞resolve得來，而resolve除了有常見的「解決」之意，還有「決心去做」的意思，所以make resolution也可以形象地理解為立flag。今天就來看看New Year's resolution的來歷，順便祝大家flag不倒，一切越來越好！
The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year—though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. During a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. These promises could be considered the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions. If the Babylonians kept to their word, their (pagan) gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods』 favor—a place no one wanted to be. 據說古巴比倫人是最早下新年決心的民族，大約始於4000年前。他們也是第一批舉行有記錄的慶祝新年活動的人——儘管對他們來說，新年不是從一月，而是從三月中旬開始，那時正好開始種莊稼。在一個被稱為阿基圖的為期12天的大型宗教節日中，巴比倫人為新國王加冕，或重申他們對在位國王的忠誠。他們還向諸神許下諾言，償還債務，歸還他們所借的任何物品。這些承諾可以被認為是新年決心的前身。如果巴比倫人信守他們的諾言，他們的(異教的)神會在來年賜予他們恩惠。否則，他們就會失去神的護佑，誰也不想要這樣的結果。
A similar practice occurred in ancient Rome, after the reform-minded emperor Julius Caesar tinkered with the calendar and established January 1 as the beginning of the new year circa 46 B.C. Named for Janus, the two-faced god whose spirit inhabited doorways and arches, January had special significance for the Romans. Believing that Janus symbolically looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future, the Romans offered sacrifices to the deity and made promises of good conduct for the coming year. 類似的做法也發生在古羅馬，當時具有改革思想的皇帝尤裡烏斯·凱撒修改了日曆，大約在公元前46年將1月1日定為新年的開始。雙面神傑納斯(Janus)的靈魂居住在門口和拱門上，以他的名字命名的一月（January）對羅馬人很重要。羅馬人相信傑納斯的雙面象徵著回顧過去和展望未來，於是向神供奉祭品，並承諾來年品行良好。
For early Christians, the first day of the new year became the traditional occasion for thinking about one’s past mistakes and resolving to do and be better in the future. In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, founder of Methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service, most commonly held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Also known as watch night services, they included readings from Scriptures and hymn singing, and served as a spiritual alternative to the raucous celebrations normally held to celebrate the coming of the new year. Now popular within evangelical Protestant churches, especially African-American denominations and congregations, watch night services held on New Year’s Eve are often spent praying and making resolutions for the coming year. 對於早期的基督徒來說，新年的第一天傳統上成為思考過去的錯誤和決心將來做得更好的時刻。在1740年，衛理公會的創始人英國牧師約翰·衛斯理，創立了Covenant Renewal Service，最常在新年前夕或元旦舉行。它們也被稱為守夜儀式，用誦讀經文和唱讚美詩的形式來慶祝新年的到來。新年前夜舉行的守夜儀式如今在福音派新教教堂中很流行，尤其是非洲裔美國人的教派和集會中，通常用來祈禱和制定來年的計劃。
Despite the tradition’s religious roots, New Year’s resolutions today are a mostly secular practice. Instead of making promises to the gods, most people make resolutions only to themselves, and focus purely on self-improvement (which may explain why such resolutions seem so hard to follow through on). According to recent research, while as many as 45 percent of Americans say they usually make New Year’s resolutions, only 8 percent are successful in achieving their goals. But that dismal record probably won’t stop people from making resolutions anytime soon—after all, we』ve had about 4,000 years of practice. 儘管這個傳統有其宗教根源，但今天的新年決心大多跟宗教無關。大多數人不向神許下承諾，而只向自己立下flag，只專注於自我提高（這也許可以解釋為什麼這樣的決心很難堅持下去）。根據最近的研究，多達45%的美國人說他們通常會在新年立flag，只有8%的人能成功實現目標。但這個糟糕的記錄可能不會在短時間內阻止人們立flag——畢竟，這個傳統已經有大約4000年。
本文譯自：https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions