當我們收穫著“雙十一”狂歡購物節的“戰利品”時，美國人也迎來了這個被叫做“黑色星期五”的採購日。沒錯，就是今天——感恩節的第二天。那麼它相對於每個普通的星期五有什麼特別之處呢？人們為什麼要稱之為“黑色星期五”？它究竟有什麼來歷呢？帶著這些疑問，跟小天一起去尋找答案吧！
購物的一天
A Day to Shop
在美國，感恩節後的第一個星期五常被叫作“黑色星期五”，這一天標誌著聖誕節和假日購物季的開端，成群結隊的顧客會被各大零售商的特價商品所吸引。
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.
有些人利用這個休息日去探望住在別處的家人或朋友，或者去度假。其他人則在這一天開始聖誕節採購。黑色星期五這一天也流行購買聖誕禮物，很多商店都有特別優惠，有些商品會打折，比如玩具。
Some people use this day to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season. Shopping for Christmas presents is also popular on Black Friday. Many stores have special offers and lower their prices on some goods, such as toys.
關於黑色星期五
About Black Friday
根據《牛津英語詞典》的記載，自從二十世紀六十年代早期以來，感恩節後的那天就一直被稱作“黑色星期五”。
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the day after Thanksgiving has been called Black Friday since at least the early 1960s.
一種說法就是“黑色星期五”這個詞源於傳統商業記賬方式。紅筆記錄赤字，黑筆記錄盈利。很多生意，尤其是小買賣，在聖誕節之前就開始盈利，很多商家希望在感恩節之後這一天就能開始用黑筆記錄盈利。
One theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day.
然而，財務上用黑色代表盈利的這種解釋，很可能不是“黑色星期五”一詞的真正來源。更為可能的來源是：“黑色星期五”一開始是被用作玩笑話，用來代指感恩節後的那天交通狀況會極為糟糕。因為當天有大量狂熱的顧客湧入市中心，所以路上的擁堵就成了一年當中最為嚴重的了。
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.
《牛津英語詞典》早期的引文表明，“黑色星期五”可能是在警察和公交司機當中傳播開來的，因為他們無疑是很害怕交通如此堵塞的那一天的。這個詞語的使用好像是從賓夕法尼亞的費城開始的，然後就傳播到美國的其他地方去了。
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.
其實，不單美國有“黑色星期五”，英國也有。那麼英國的“黑色星期五”又是怎樣的一天呢？瞭解一下吧！
“烏眼青星期五”
Black Eye Friday
在英國，聖誕節前最後一個週五被急救服務業戲稱為“黑色星期五”。因為辦公室聖誕派對大多在這一晚進行，也使之成為了令救護車和警察最忙碌的夜晚。
In the United Kingdom, Black Friday was a historic nickname within the emergency services for the last Friday before Christmas, as this is the most popular night for office Christmas parties, which consequently makes it one of the busiest nights in the year for ambulances and the police.
這個星期五也被稱為“烏眼青星期五”，因為在這天中，一些地區的酒吧、酒館和俱樂部打架鬥毆的事件極多。
The Friday is referred to as Black Eye Friday, due to extremely high number of fights that break out in bars, pubs and clubs in some areas.
2013年，也許為了避免與美國11月底的“黑色星期五”購物季混淆，也由於許多英國零售商開始接受這種購物季的說法，人們開始將“黑色星期五”稱為“瘋狂星期五”。
In 2013, it started to be named Mad Friday, probably to avoid confusion with the American shopping phenomena at the end of November called Black Friday, as this began to be adopted by many UK retailers.
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