经济不景气美国人感恩节打折扣

　　家常便饭取代了豪华大餐；宅在家里取代了飞机出游；还有一些人连火鸡都打算省了。在经济危机笼罩下的第四个感恩节，什么都在涨，一些美国人计划省着过节。然而对许多家庭而言，这个节日可不能被省掉。一位母亲说：“我没什么可给予，但我会烹饪，随时开门迎客。”根据美国汽车协会对出行的追踪调查显示，感恩节机票价格今年涨了20%，每加仑的平均油价也涨了近20%。尽管如此还是有4250万人希望出游，达到经济衰退以来的最高值。但是，即使那些选择呆在家里自己做饭的人们，可能也会花费更多。据美国农场局联合会，一只16磅的火鸡和所有其他东西加起来平均要花费49.2美元，比去年涨了13%，多出5.73美元。联合会还说，杂货店已经通过提高售价来应对货物进价的上涨。

　　Some are holding potluck dinners instead of springing for the entire feast. Others are staying home rather than flying. And a few are skipping the turkey altogether.

　　On this the fourth Thanksgiving since the economy sank, prices for everything from airline flights to groceries are going up, and some Americans are scaling back. Yet in many households, the occasion is too important to skimp on. Said one mother: "I don't have much to give, but I'll be cooking, and the door will be open."

　　Thanksgiving airfares are up 20 percent this year, and the average price of a gallon of gas has risen almost 20 percent, according to travel tracker AAA. Still, about 42.5 million people are expected to travel, the highest number since the start of the recession.

　　But even those who choose to stay home and cook for themselves will probably spend more. A 16-pound turkey and all the trimmings will cost an average of $49.20, a 13 percent jump from last year, or about $5.73 more, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, which says grocers have raised prices to keep pace with higher-priced commodities.

　　In Pawtucket, R.I., Jackie Galinis was among those looking for help to put a proper meal on the table. She stopped at a community center this week seeking a donated food basket. But by the time she arrived, all 300 turkeys had been claimed.

　　So Galinis, an unemployed retail worker, will make do with what's in her apartment. "We'll have to eat whatever I've got, so I'm thinking chicken," she said.

　　Then her eyes lit up. "Actually, I think I've got red meat in the freezer, some corned beef. We could do a boiled dinner."

　　Galinis has another reason to clear out her apartment's freezer: Her landlord is in the process of evicting her and her 3-year-old son. The unemployment rate in Pawtucket, a city struggling with the loss of manufacturing jobs, is 12.1 percent, well above the national average.

　　Carole Goldsmith of Fresno, Calif., decided she didn't need to have a feast, even if she could still afford it.

　　Goldsmith, an administrator at a community college in Coalinga, Calif., said she typically hosts an "over-the-top meal" for friends and family. This year, she canceled the meal and donated a dozen turkeys to two homeless shelters. She plans to spend Thursday volunteering before holding a small celebration Friday with soup, bread "and lots of gratitude."

　　"I think everybody is OK with it," she said. "They understand. Everybody is in a different place than they were a year ago."

　　In suburban Chicago, the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry got rid of turkey altogether. Last year, the pantry had a lottery in October to distribute 600 turkeys between almost 1,500 families.

　　The pantry's management has decided to give all of its families a choice between other kinds of meat — ground turkey, sliced chicken, fish sticks and hamburger patties — along with the other trappings of a Thanksgiving feast. The decision will save $16,000, money that can go to feeding the hungry for the rest of the year.

　　"Do we give turkeys and hams to half of the people or do we give them to none of them and put that money back in the general food budget?" said the pantry's executive director, Kathy Russell.