黑色星期五

幾十年前出版的英語詞典給 Friday 下的定義是 the sixth day of the week，即“一周的第六天”，與漢語的“星期五”有差異。可是近些年出版的英語詞典給Friday下的定義有了變化。例如：1. Monday is the first day of the working week. In turn, Friday is the fifth day of the working week. 星期一是一個工作周的第一天。依次類推，星期五是一個工作周的第五天。 Friday 名稱的來歷與金星有關。例如：2. Friday is originally translated from the Latin for“day of the Planet Venus”. Friday 原譯自拉丁語“金星日”。 基督教國家有個宗教節日，叫做 Good Friday，譯作“受難節”。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. 受難節是復活節前的星期五，最初是基督徒紀念耶穌基督被釘在十字架上蒙難而設立的宗教節日。 因此，許多西方人認為星期五是“不祥之日”。例如：4. Friday has always been considered as an unlucky day in many Christian countries. 在許多基督教國家，星期五一直被認為是不祥之日。 如果星期五碰巧是一個月的13號，兩個不吉利數字加在一起，構成了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. 歷史上曾有一些碰巧發生在星期五而且是13號的不幸事件，被稱作“黑色星期五”。 現在西方國家，Black Friday 變成盛大的購物日，不再帶有宗教色彩，而更具有商業氣息。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”是美國感恩節后緊跟的星期五(11月的第四個星期五)，通常被看做是圣誕購物季的開端。▲（本欄目供稿：王逢鑫教授）