VOA常速英语:Thanksgiving 2017

On the fourth Thursday in November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. The celebration is rooted in the ancient tradition of the harvest festival, but in the United States, it has taken a far greater significance.Although there are numerous regional claims as to where the first Thanksgiving was celebrated,the traditional observance stems from a celebration that took place in Massachusetts, in November, 1621.
美国人在11月的第四个星期四庆祝感恩节。庆祝活动根植于丰收节的古老传统，但在美国，感恩节庆祝活动有更重大的意义。尽管很多地区对首个感恩节的庆祝地点各执一词，但传统仪式是源于1621年11月在马萨诸塞州举办的庆祝仪式。

Those English settlers who celebrated that first Thanksgiving truly did have much for which to be thankful. Known today as the Pilgrims, these Christians were dissenters from the established English church.As part of their religious beliefs they observed Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving in response to events they believed to be special acts of Providence. The end of a drought, or of a plague, might call for a day of Thanksgiving.
庆祝首个感恩节的英国移民确实有很多值得感激的事情。这些人就是我们今天所说的清教徒，他们反对英国国教。作为宗教信仰的一部分，他们认为感恩节这一天应禁食并祈祷，以此表达对上帝特殊眷顾的感激。干旱和瘟疫的结束也需要感恩。

Intent on setting up a community wherein they could live according to their own religious beliefs, they sailed out of England on a ship called the Mayflower in September 1620.One hundred and two would-be colonists and some 30 crew came ashore at Cape Cod on November 9th.Within a year, half of them were dead due to starvation, disease and the harsh weather conditions of that first winter.But the summer brought a good harvest, and in autumn, 53 Pilgrims sat down to a feast with 90 of their neighbors,Wampanoag Indians who had helped feed and safeguard them over their first year in the New World.
他们决定建立一个社区，在那里就可以依照自己的宗教信仰生活，他们在1620年9月登上离开英格兰的五月花号。102名未来的殖民者和约30名船员于11月9日在科德角登陆。这一年，他们中的一半人因饥饿、疾病和首个冬天的恶劣天气而死亡。但夏季带来了丰收。秋天，53名清教徒与他们的90个印第安邻居共享盛宴，这些印第安人在他们来到新大陆的第一年帮助其种植作物并保护他们的安全。

Although the holiday had been observed in Virginia since the first permanent colony was founded in Jamestown in 1609,modern Thanksgiving was first officially established in all states in 1863, by a presidential proclamation of Abraham Lincoln.The observance was moved to the fourth week in November by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
尽管在1609年第一个永久殖民地詹姆斯敦设立以来，弗吉尼亚州就已庆祝该节日，但直到1863年，美国总统亚伯拉罕·林肯颁发总统令，才使感恩节正式成为法定假日。美国总统富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福将感恩节的日期移至11月的第四周。

Thanksgiving began as a prayer of gratitude by emigrants who faced death, who nevertheless came through and endured. Today, for many Americans it is an occasion for gatherings of family and friends;a day to share a holiday meal with those who matter the most;and a day to give thanks for the many blessings of freedom.
感恩节最初是面临死亡威胁的移民进行的感恩祈祷，之后他们都渡过难关。今天，对于许多美国人而言，这是家人、朋友聚会的日子；是与最重要的人共享节日盛宴的日子；是对自由祝福表示感激的日子。