美国有线新闻 CNN 黑色星期五来临 美国将迎网购高峰

 

REPORTER: Black Friday sounds kind of scary, and it was. Black Friday first referred to the collapse¹ of the U.S. gold market in 1869. A century later, Philadelphia police used Black Friday to describe chaos² and congestion³. Downtown streets were clogged⁴ with hoards⁵ of shoppers headed to the big department stores.

Retailers⁷ 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 catching⁸ on in the '80s and '90s 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.

AZUZ: So, that's one of the events that follows the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday. Others include Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Small Business Saturday is when mom and pop shops hope to see their sales increase. Cyber Monday is named for online shopping sales. The bottom line, this weekend is the traditional start of the U.S. holiday shopping season and discounts area all over the place.

What's a little controversial are sales on Thanksgiving itself. Some retailers are opened the afternoon of the holiday to encourage people to shop in-stores or online. Some are closed, encouraging their employees and customers to spend time with their families.

Though tens of millions of Americans typically do some shopping on Thanksgiving Day, data from the National Retail⁶ Federation⁹ suggests that number is decreasing each year, and retail itself is changing with sales attracting buyers well before Thanksgiving and an increasing number of Americans shopping online.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

4 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

5 hoards   

n.（钱财、食物或其他珍贵物品的）储藏，积存( hoard的名词复数 )v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She hoards her money - she never spends it. 她积蓄钱，但从来不花钱。 来自辞典例句
• A squirrel hoards nuts for the winter. 松鼠为过冬贮藏坚果。 来自辞典例句

6 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

7 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

8 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

9 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。