美國購物節:黑色星期五 Black Friday 英語介紹

↑ 點擊上方藍字 「 曉巖英語隨手記 」 關注我們

Black Friday is an informal name for the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. The day after Thanksgiving has been regarded as the beginning of the United States Christmas shopping season since 1952. The term "Black Friday" did not become widely used until more recent decades, during which time global retailers have adopted the term and date to market their own holiday sales. 

美國感恩節（每年11月的第四個星期四）後一天，那個周五被稱為「黑色星期五」。自1952年起，感恩節後一天（星期五）被視為美國聖誕購物季的開始。」黑色星期五「的稱呼也是最近幾十年才被廣泛使用，這一名字和日期被全球零售商用來進行節假日促銷。

Black Friday has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States since 2005. For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 a.m., but in the late 2000s many had crept to 5:00 or 4:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohl's, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls) 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 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. In 2014, stores such as JCPenney, Best Buy, and Radio Shack opened at 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day while stores such as Target, Walmart, Belk, and Sears opened at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. 

自2005年以來，」黑色星期五「一直是美國一年中最繁忙的購物日。多年來，零售商通常早上6點開門，但到了20世紀末，許多零售商都悄悄地把營業時間提早到了5:00或4:00。2011年，這一現象被推向了一個新的極端，幾家零售商（包括Target、Kohl's、Macy's、BestBuy和Bealls）首次在午夜開始營業。2012年，沃爾瑪和其他幾家零售商宣布，他們將在感恩節當天晚上8:00開門營業，引發了一些工人罷工的呼聲。2014年，JCPenney、Best Buy和Radio Shack等商店在感恩節當天下午5:00開張，而Target、Walmart、Belk和Sears等商店則在感恩節當天下午6:00營業。

Three states—Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts—prohibit large supermarkets, big box stores, and department stores from opening on Thanksgiving, due to the state's Common Day of Rest Law. A bill to allow stores to open on Thanksgiving Day was the subject of a public hearing on July 8, 2017.

Rhode Island、Maine和Massachusetts三個州依照該州的公共休息日法禁止大型超市、大賣場和百貨公司在感恩節開門營業。2017年7月8日，一項允許商店在感恩節開門營業的法案成為公眾聽證會的主題。

There have been reports of violence occurring between shoppers on Black Friday. Since 2006, there have been 12 reported deaths and 117 injuries throughout the United States. It is common for prospective shoppers to camp out over the Thanksgiving holiday in an effort to secure a place in front of the line and thus a better chance at getting desired items. This poses a significant safety risk, such as the use of propane and generators in the most elaborate cases, and in general, the blocking of emergency access and fire lanes, causing at least one city to ban the practice.

」黑色星期五「購物者之間發生暴力事件的新聞時常見報。自2006年以來，全美國共有12人死亡，117人受傷。對於潛在的購物者來說，在感恩節期間紮營是很常見的，目的是為了搶佔到隊伍靠前的位置，從而有更好的機會買到想要的商品。這造成了重大的安全隱患，例如在最複雜的情況下使用丙烷和發電機，以及一般情況下，堵塞緊急通道和消防車道，以至於至少有一個州明令禁止了這樣的做法。

retailer [ˈriːteɪlə(r)] 零售商;零售店

routinely [ruːˈtiːnli] 通常地;慣常地

prohibit...from doing sth. [prəˈhɪbɪt] subject [ˈsʌbdʒɪkt , səbˈdʒekt] There have been reports of... 有報導說
prospective [prəˈspektɪv] 可能的;預期的
a better chance at doing sth.  [tʃɑːns] 
desired [dɪˈzaɪəd] 渴望的；想得到的
significant [sɪɡˈnɪfɪkənt] generator [ˈdʒenəreɪtə(r)] 發電機
elaborate [ɪˈlæbərət , ɪˈlæbəreɪt]  block [blɒk] 堵塞;擋住(某人的視線等)emergency access [iˈmɜːdʒənsi ˈækses] fire lane [ˈfaɪə(r) leɪn]消防車道
 ban the practice (of...) 禁止...的做法

Why is it called Black Friday?

Many people believe we call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" because many stores become profitable on the huge shopping day and go "into the black." The true origins of the term are a bit darker. 

很多人認為我們把感恩節後一天稱為」黑色星期五「，是因為很多商家在這個盛大的購物日都會顧客盈門從而利潤大增（傳統上用不同顏色的墨水來記帳，紅色表示虧損即赤字，黑色表示盈利）。然而」黑色星期五「這個詞的起源要更加黑暗。

The first recorded use of the term 「Black Friday」 was applied to financial crisis: specifically, the crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24, 1869. Two notoriously ruthless Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, worked together to buy up as much as they could of the nation’s gold, hoping to drive the price sky-high and sell it for astonishing profits. On that Friday in September, the conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the stock market into free-fall and bankrupting everyone from Wall Street barons to farmers.

據記錄，「黑色星期五」一詞最先被用於金融危機：確切來說，是1869年9月24日美國黃金市場的崩盤。華爾街兩位臭名昭著、冷酷無情的金融家 Jay Gould 和 Jim Fisk 合作，儘可能多地收購美國的黃金，希望將黃金價格推高，並將其出售，從而獲得驚人的利潤。9月的那個星期五，陰謀最終敗露，股市陷入自由落體，從華爾街大亨到農民，每個人都破產了。

In the 1950s, Philadelphia police used the "Black Friday" term to refer to the day between Thanksgiving and the Army-Navy game. Huge crowds of shoppers and tourists went to the city that Friday, and cops had to work long hours to cover the crowds and traffic.

上世紀50年代，費城警方用「黑色星期五」這個詞來指感恩節和陸軍-海軍比賽日之間的那一個星期五，大批購物者和遊客前往該市，警察不得不長時間工作以掩護人群和車輛。（陸軍-海軍比賽，是美國大學橄欖球比賽，由位於紐約西點的美國軍事學院陸軍黑騎士隊以及位於馬裡蘭州安納波利斯的美國海軍學院海軍船員組成。）

Merchants in the area tried to change the name to "Big Friday," but the alternative name never caught on. By the late 1980s, "Black Friday" had spread nationally with the more positive "red to black" backstory.

當地的商人試圖把這個名字改成「大星期五」，但這個替代的名字從未流行起來。到了20世紀80年代末，「黑色星期五」在全國範圍內以更積極的「紅轉黑（赤字轉盈利）」的背景故事傳播開來。

profitable [ˈprɒfɪtəbl] 贏利的;有益的

be applied to [bi əˈplaɪd tu] 被應用於
specifically [spəˈsɪfɪkli] 明確地;具體地
notoriously [nəʊˈtɔːriəsli] ruthless [ˈruːθləs] 殘酷無情的;殘忍的
financier [faɪˈnænsiə(r)] 金融家；理財家sky-high adj./adv 極高的;太高的astonishing [əˈstɒnɪʃɪŋ] 難以置信的
conspiracy [kənˈspɪrəsi] 陰謀
unravel [ʌnˈrævl] 解體;崩潰;瓦解
free-fall [ˈfriː fɔːl] (n.)huge crowds of (people) 人山人海work long hours 長時間工作；加班加點
merchant [ˈmɜːtʃənt] 商人；批發商

本文英語資料來源：

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-it-called-black-friday

https://www.history.com/news/whats-the-real-history-of-black-friday

曉巖英語隨手記

長按掃描二維碼

關注我們 獲取更多英語知識