美国国家公共电台 NPR With A Midweek Holiday, Marking A Revolution With Moderation

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

OK. It's nothing compared to what our Founding Fathers had to contend with, nor does it compare to the weighty issues facing our country today. But, still, when the Fourth of July falls on a Wednesday, celebrating can become a serious summer dilemma¹. NPR's Tovia Smith has more.

TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE²: With the Fourth of July barbecues and fireworks smack³ in the middle of the workweek, what's a worker to do?

TOM LEONE: It's just confusing for the week. You know, you take a couple of days before or after. It's confusing.

THIAGO MANSO: Like, even, like, my job doesn't even know what to do because, like, they don't know if they should give us off, like, at a weekend or in the middle of the week or last weekend. So, yeah.

SMITH: It's a mess.

MANSO: It is, definitely.

SMITH: Tom Leone (ph), a volunteer firefighter in Boston, and Thiago Manso, a waiter, ended up taking two days midweek. Steve Spadt, visiting Boston from Philadelphia, took the whole week.

STEVE SPADT: I only had to take four days off, and I get a five-day vacation.

SMITH: Bonus.

SPADT: It's a good deal.

(LAUGHTER)

SMITH: Everything's on sale on Fourth of July, right?

SPADT: That's right (laughter).

SMITH: ...Even vacation.

SPADT: (Laughter) That's right.

SMITH: But there are many not celebrating.

KEVIN HEALY: Aw, miserable⁴.

SMITH: Forty-year-old truck driver Kevin Healy says he needs to save his vacation days for Christmas, so he has to miss the Fourth this year.

HEALY: No partying because you got to work the next day. (Laughter) It's ridiculous.

MATT TRIPP: Dreadful. Dreadful.

SMITH: Some business owners, like general contractor⁵ Matt Tripp and architect Bill Whitlock, have their own complaints.

BILL WHITLOCK: Productivity - we basically lost a week, easily.

SMITH: Because staff didn't show up.

WHITLOCK: Yeah. They're not here.

TRIPP: We're all that's left.

SMITH: They'd like to see lawmakers ensure that Independence Day is always a long weekend, not a week.

TRIPP: It should be like Thanksgiving - first Friday or Monday of July every year. I think you'd get a lot of voter support.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, yelling) Huzzah (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Yelling) Huzzah.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) All together on the count of three, we're going to dump this tea into the sea.

SMITH: Down the street at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, tourists are re-enacting a different grievance⁶.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) One, two, three - over the side. Huzzah.

SMITH: Tourist traffic here was light on Monday and Tuesday, but Executive Director Shawn Ford⁷ is counting on the end of the week.

SHAWN FORD: We hope it's coming. We certainly do hope it's coming.

SMITH: But either way, Ford says, the holiday should not be changed.

FORD: You got to celebrate the Fourth on the Fourth.

SMITH: Because it's significant that it's...

FORD: Our nation's birthday.

SMITH: Love it or hate it, the Fourth of July won't fall on Wednesday again for more than a decade. Tovia Smith, NPR News, Boston.

1 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。

4 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

5 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

6 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。

7 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。