黑色星期五

几十年前出版的英语词典给 Friday 下的定义是 the sixth day of the week，即“一周的第六天”，与汉语的“星期五”有差异。可是近些年出版的英语词典给Friday下的定义有了变化。例如：1. Monday is the first day of the working week. In turn, Friday is the fifth day of the working week. 星期一是一个工作周的第一天。依次类推，星期五是一个工作周的第五天。 Friday 名称的来历与金星有关。例如：2. Friday is originally translated from the Latin for“day of the Planet Venus”. Friday 原译自拉丁语“金星日”。 基督教国家有个宗教节日，叫做 Good Friday，译作“受难节”。例如：3. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter, which is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death. 受难节是复活节前的星期五，最初是基督徒纪念耶稣基督被钉在十字架上蒙难而设立的宗教节日。 因此，许多西方人认为星期五是“不祥之日”。例如：4. Friday has always been considered as an unlucky day in many Christian countries. 在许多基督教国家，星期五一直被认为是不祥之日。 如果星期五碰巧是一个月的13号，两个不吉利数字加在一起，构成了Black Friday (黑色星期五)。例如：5. In history there have been a number of unfortunate events that happened on a Friday the 13th and are known as Black Friday. 历史上曾有一些碰巧发生在星期五而且是13号的不幸事件，被称作“黑色星期五”。 现在西方国家，Black Friday 变成盛大的购物日，不再带有宗教色彩，而更具有商业气息。例如：6. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November), often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. “黑色星期五”是美国感恩节后紧跟的星期五(11月的第四个星期五)，通常被看做是圣诞购物季的开端。▲（本栏目供稿：王逢鑫教授）