CNN双语新闻(翻译+字幕+讲解):感恩节购物季开启 黑色星期五由来大起底

If NASA were to track American shopping habits through the seasons, 如果美国航空航天局（简称NASA）追踪美国民众在不同季节的购物习惯，

it'd be expecting the whole country to light up in the days ahead. 那他们会发现全美将在未来几天活跃起来。

The traditional holiday shopping season used to start with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and continue up to Christmas. 传统的假日购物季通常从黑色星期五开始，即感恩节第二天，然后一直持续至圣诞节。

It's when retail companies launch sales and shoppers go on the hunt for gifts, lines wrapping around stores, 在这期间，零售商会打折，购物者则去寻找礼物、在商店排队、

people racing down the aisles, trying to get the best deals. 匆忙跑过通道以获得最佳优惠。

This was the norm and still is in some places, 这是以前的常态，当然在一些地区现在仍是常态，

but with department stores and online retailers constantly changing the dates of these sales, 不过由于百货店和在线零售商不断更改折扣日期，

in many cases, holding them earlier than Thanksgiving, shopping season is now a dynamic event, with no fixed dates. 在很多地方，购物季早在感恩节之前便已经开始，而且成为动态事件，没有固定的日期。

Safe to say though that by Black Friday, which is this Friday, it's in full swing. 本周五就是黑色星期五，可以说当天会盛况空前。

Black Friday sounds kind of scary, and it was. 黑色星期五听起来可能有点儿可怕，以前的确如此。

Black Friday first referred to the collapse of the U.S. gold market in 1869. 黑色星期五最初指1869年美国黄金市场的崩盘。

A century later, Philadelphia police used Black Friday to describe chaos and congestion. 一个世纪之后，费城警方用黑色星期五来形容混乱和堵塞。

Downtown streets were clogged with hoards of shoppers headed to the big department stores. 市中心街道堵满了前往大型百货商场的大量购物者。

Retailers hated the term but then tried to reinvent it. 零售商讨厌这一说法，他们试图对这种说法进行改造。

It was the day their profits went from red to black — so they said. 那一天是他们的利润从红字变成黑字的日子。

Black Friday really started catching on in the '80s and '90s pushed by the growth of big box stores. 在大卖场不断发展的推动下，黑色星期五在上世纪80年代至90年代开始流行。

Today, it's all about bargains and Black Friday's dark roots are for the history books. 现在，黑色星期五已演变为折扣季，而其黑暗的起源也已经成为历史。