新概念英语第一册课外知识:黑色星期五

2017-08-29 11:45:24来源：网络

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　　Why is the day after Thanksgiving called ‘Black Friday’?

　　感恩节后的那天为什么叫作“黑色星期五”?

　　Often referred to as Black Friday in the US, the Friday after Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas and holiday shopping season, during which crowds of consumers are drawn to retailers offering special deals.

　　在美国，感恩节后的第一个星期五常被叫作“黑色星期五”，这一天标志着圣诞节和假日购物季的开端，成群结队的顾客会被各大零售商的特价商品所吸引。

　　According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the day after Thanksgiving has been called Black Friday since at least the early 1960s. The explanation typically given for the day’s name is that it is the first day of the year that retailers are in the black as opposed to being in the red. In other words, the day is the first of the year that retailers have turned a profit. The use of colors here refers back to the bookkeeping practice of recording the credit side of an account in a ledger in black ink and the debit side in red ink. Thanks to the volume of sales on Black Friday, retailers are – notionally at least – in the black after the holiday shopping rush.

　　根据《牛津英语词典》的记载，自从二十世纪六十年代早期以来，感恩节后的那天就一直被称作“黑色星期五”。对此，比较常见的解释是：这一天是零售商们一年当中第一天财务报表上是黑色的，而不是相反的红色。换句话说，这一天，是零售商们一年当中第一天盈利的日子。这里的颜色是指财务上的记账的方式，黑色代表盈利，红色代表亏损。由于黑色星期五这天的销售量很大，零售商们在购物季结束之后都是盈利的——至少理论上是这样的。

　　However, the black ink explanation is probably not the origin of the term. The more likely story is that ‘Black Friday’ started out as a joking reference to how bad the traffic would be on this day. Due to the influx of enthusiastic shoppers into city centers, the congestion was the worst that it would be all year. Early citations in the OED indicate that the term may have originated among police officers and bus drivers, who no doubt would have dreaded this traffic-heavy day. The use of this term seems to have started in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before spreading to other areas of the country. In this instance of ‘Black Friday,’ the word 'black' refers to a situation that is “characterized by tragic or disastrous events” or “causing despair or pessimism,” although the use is understood as being humorous.

　　然而，财务上用黑色代表盈利的这种解释，很可能不是“黑色星期五”一词的真正来源。更为可能的来源是：“黑色星期五”一开始是被用作玩笑话，用来代指感恩节后的那天交通状况会极为糟糕。因为当天有大量狂热的顾客涌入市中心，所以路上的拥堵就成了一年当中最为严重的了。《牛津英语词典》早期的引文表明，“黑色星期五”可能是在警察和公交司机当中传播开来的，因为他们无疑是很害怕交通如此堵塞的那一天的。这个词语的使用好像是从宾夕法尼亚的费城开始的，然后就传播到美国的其他地方去了。在这个“黑色星期五”的缘起事例中，“黑色”一词是指“有悲剧性或灾难性事件发生的场合”，或者“会导致绝望或悲观情绪的情况”，尽管该词语的使用是被理解为一种诙谐的说法。

　　Historically, Black Fridays have not been appended to positive events. For instance, there have been other Black Fridays besides the one referencing holiday shopping. The other Black Friday defined in OxfordDictionaries.com refers to Friday, September 24, 1869, when several speculators attempted to corner the US gold market. President Ulysses S. Grant responded by releasing all government-held gold for sale, thereby causing the price of gold to plummet and creating a stock market panic. Similarly, the day that share prices collapsed on Tuesday, October 29, 1929, ultimately causing the Great Depression, is referred to as Black Tuesday.

　　在历史上，黑色星期五从来与好事无关，说的都是坏事情。比如说，黑色星期五除了用来指代购物季的交通拥堵之外，还有其他的说法。牛津词典网站里对黑色星期五的解释中就有这样的版本，指的是1869年9月24日星期五这天，几个投机商试图垄断美国的黄金市场，而时任美国总统尤利塞斯·格兰特采取的应对方案是：把政府持有的所有黄金投放到市场上，从而导致了黄金价格的暴跌，进而引发了证券市场的恐慌。同样地，1929年10月29日星期二这天，股票价格崩塌，最终导致了经济大萧条，而这一天就被称作“黑色星期二”。

　　Black Friday is not the only day of the consumer shopping season to receive a special moniker. The Monday following Thanksgiving is known in the US as Cyber Monday, thanks to the efforts of online retailers to draw in business through similar promotional offers.

　　黑色星期五不仅仅是购物季节所产生的唯一的叫法。在美国，感恩节后的第一个星期一被称作“剁手星期一”，这要归功于线上零售商们通过类似的促销手段来吸引顾客下单购物的不懈努力。

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