黑色星期五的由来

The Friday after Thanksgiving was coined "Black Friday" in the 1960s to kick off the holiday shopping season. In America, it's basically its own holiday. The "black" in Black Friday refers to stores moving from a loss to a profit. Back in this time period, accounting¹ records were handwritten — red ink indicating a loss and black ink, a profit. But who decided² that this day was the day to kick it all off? The answer: retailers³.

感恩节后的星期五在1960年代被取名为“黑色星期五”来展开节日购物季。在美国，黑色星期五基本上本身就是一个节日了。黑色星期五中的“黑色”指的是店家由亏转盈。在当时，帐本是手写的——红墨水代表亏损，而黑墨水则是盈利。不过是谁决定这一天就是采买季开始的那天呢？答案：零售商们。

 

Many retailers didn't set up holiday displays or advertise holiday sales until after Thanksgiving was over. It was a way to get people to immediately start spending after the turkey palooza was over. Store-sponsored Thanksgiving parades like the Macy's parade are still common to this day. Oftentimes, Santa would appear at the end of the parade, and Santa is really good at getting people in the holiday spirit.

 

许多零售商要到感恩节过完后才会开始摆起节日布景或推广节日特惠活动。这是一个让人们在疯狂火鸡派对结束后立刻开始花钱的方法。像梅西百货大游行那种商家赞助的感恩节游行到现在都还很常见。圣诞老人常常会在游行尾声出现，而圣诞老人最会让人感染节日的精神了。

Black Friday became what it is today because we keep buying into it. I bet you didn't know that back in the day when FDR was president,Thanksgiving was actually the last Thursday of November. And since the following Friday marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season, there weren't as many days for people to do their spending.

黑色星期五演变成今天这样子，因为我们不停买单。我敢说你不知道在罗斯福当总统那时，感恩节其实是在十一月的最后一个星期四。由于那后面的星期五代表节日购物季的开始，人们花钱的时间并没有现在那么多天。

 

In 1939, President Roosevelt changed the official date of Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday in November instead of the last. This move lengthened⁴ the holiday shopping season,and his hope was that the change would boost⁵ sales for retailers while in turn, boosting⁶ the economy. Many people were stuck in their traditions, however, so Roosevelt signed a bill to officially make Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

 

1939 年，罗斯福总统将感恩节的正式日期改为十一月的倒数第二个星期四而不是最后一个星期四。此举延长节日购物季的时间，而他的期望就是这项改变能刺激零售商销量，同时从而提振经济。不过很多人都无法摆脱传统的感恩节日期，所以罗斯福就签署一项法案来将感恩节正式变成十一月的第四个星期四。

 

Nearly 135 million people shop on Black Friday each year. Are you one of them? What are you hoping to get for Christmahanakwanzika? 

每年有将近一亿三千五百万人在黑色星期五这天购物。你也是其中之一吗？你想要买到什么圣诞节兼光明节兼宽扎节的礼物呢？

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