黑色星期五

◎供稿：Antony

感恩節過后的周五，是美版“雙十一”——Black Friday，俗稱“黑色星期五”，是美國人民瘋狂買買買的開始。今天，我們就來跟大家聊一下美國的“黑色星期五”。

The1)traditionalholiday shopping season used to start with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and continue up to Christmas. It’s when2)retailcompanies launch sales and shoppers go on the hunt for gifts, lines wrapping around stores, people racing down the aisles, trying to get the best deals. This was the norm and still is in some places, but with department stores and online retailers constantly changing the dates of these sales, in many cases, holding them earlier than Thanksgiving, shopping season is now a3)dynamicevent, with no fixed dates.

Black Friday sounds kind of scary, and it was especially in the old4)superstition.Black Friday first referred to the5)collapseof the U.S. gold market in 1869. A century later, Philadelphia police used Black Friday to describe6)chaosand congestion.Downtown streets were clogged with hoards of shoppers headed to the big department stores.

Retailers hated the term but then tried to reinvent it. It was the day their profits went from red to black — so they said.

Black Friday really started catching on in the 1980s and 1990s pushed by the growth of big box stores.

Today, it’s all about bargains and Black Friday’s dark roots are for the history books.

1) traditional [tr?'d???nl] adj. 傳統的

2) retail ['ri:te?l] n. 零售，零售的

3) dynamic [da?'n?m?k] adj. 動力的，動態的

4) superstition [,su:p?'st??n] n. 迷信

5) collapse [k?'l?ps] vi. 倒塌，崩潰，暴跌

6) chaos ['ke??s] n. 混亂，無秩序

傳統的假日購物季通常從黑色星期五開始，即感恩節第二天，然后一直持續至圣誕節。在這期間，零售商會打折，購物者則去尋找禮物、在商店排隊、匆忙跑過通道以獲得最佳優惠。這是以前的常態，當然在一些地區現在仍是常態，不過由于百貨店和在線零售商不斷更改折扣日期，在很多地方，購物季早在感恩節之前便已經開始，而且成為動態事件，沒有固定的日期。

“黑色星期五”聽起來可能有點兒可怕，以前的確如此，尤其在人們的古老迷信觀念中。“黑色星期五”最初指1869年美國黃金市場的崩盤。一個世紀之后，費城警方用黑色星期五來形容混亂和堵塞。因為市中心街道堵滿了前往大型百貨商場的大量購物者。

零售商討厭這一說法，他們試圖對這種說法進行改造。那一天是他們的利潤從紅字變成黑字的日子—零售商們如是說。

在大賣場不斷發展的推動下，“黑色星期五”在20世紀80年代至90年代開始流行。

現在，“黑色星期五”已演變為折扣季，而其黑暗的起源也已經成為歷史。

詞組加油站

light up 照亮；發亮

例句：Many shooting stars light up the sky.

許多流星照亮了天空。

used to do sth. 過去常常；過去曾

例句：I used to come home and act out the movie for the kids.

以前到家后，我會把電影內容再表演給孩子們看。

in full swing 在熱烈進行中；處于興盛階段

例句：When we returned, the party was in full swing and the dance floor was crowded.

我們回來時，聚會已進入高潮，舞池里擠滿了人。

catch on 時興；流行

例句：The idea has been around for ages without catching on.

這個觀點已經提出來有年頭了，可是一直沒被廣泛接受。

名師考點小結

kind of的用法

1.kind of可以用來修飾形容詞

①I’m kind of hungry.我有一點餓了。

②He was kind of strange, but I liked him.他有點怪怪的，但我還是喜歡他。

2.還可以修飾動詞

I kind of like him.我有點喜歡他。

3.在修飾名詞的時候，還可以有“類似；像是”這樣的含義：

He gave a kind of smile and left the room. 他像是笑了笑，然后走出了房間。

4.還可以用在簡短的對話中：

— Is she interested? 她感興趣嗎？

— Well, kind of. 嗯，有點兒。