实战口语情景对话 第1074期:Single's Day 单身节

Rory: Have you heard about Singles Day in China?
罗瑞：你听说过中国的光棍节吗？

Abidemi: No, I'm not really sure. Can you explain what that is about?
阿比德米：没有，我不知道那是什么。你能解释一下吗？

Rory: So this is a new holiday that has been created for single people.
罗瑞：这是一个为单身人群创造的新节日。

Abidemi: Wow!
阿比德米：哇哦！

Rory: And so on this day people don't buy presents for somebody else. They buy presents for themselves. They are celebrating being single, and it's been a huge success. Like the Internet sales have gone through the roof. So I guess companies just look for a time of year where there is maybe no holiday at the moment and try to create a new holiday.
罗瑞：在这一天人们不会送其他人礼物，而是给自己买礼物。他们庆祝单身，这个节日取得了巨大的成功。这一天的网络销量暴涨。我想这是商家瞄准了一年中没有任何节日的时间，然后创造了一个新节日。

Abidemi: That's an interesting idea. It sounds like something you would do normally anyway, right. We always shop for ourselves, so but, wow!
阿比德米：这是一个不错的想法。听起来像是人们平常就会做的事。我们经常给自己买东西，哇哦！

Rory: I heard actually that Mother's Day — this might be an urban myth — but it was created by the Hallmark Card Company in America because there was a gap in the year that people weren't buying cards and so they created this Mother's Day. Everyone's got a mother.
罗瑞：这可能是一个都市传说，我听说母亲节是美国霍尔马克卡片公司创设的，因为一年中有段时间人们不会买卡片，所以他们创设了母亲节。毕竟所有人都有母亲。

Abidemi: That's true.
阿比德米：没错。

Rory: And if they create this Mother's Day, everyone's going to feel obliged to buy a card from them for their mother.
罗瑞：他们创设母亲节以后，所有人都会觉得自己有义务去给母亲买张贺卡。

Abidemi: That's true.
阿比德米：是的。

Rory: And now it's ... I don't know if it's true.
罗瑞：所以……我不知道这是不是事实。

Abidemi: But I say it's true because I think it's a huge hit in a lot of countries actually, and it's spreading more and more to different countries every year, so these companies are definitely on to something. They know what they're doing.
阿比德米：我认为是这样，因为母亲节在许多国家非常受欢迎，每年都有越来越多的国家庆祝母亲节，这些公司一定是有想法的。他们知道他们在做什么。

Rory: Right. So what should we do? I can't boycott Christmas cause I love Christmas too much, but maybe we could boycott some of these other days.
罗瑞：没错。那我们应该怎么办？我不能抵制圣诞节，因为我非常喜欢圣诞节，不过也许我们可以抵制其他节日。

Abidemi: Maybe, or just celebrate it in a way that's less commercialized. I guess we don't always have to buy big things. What about quality time? Spending time with family, with friends and just appreciating them in different ways than we would just think of just shopping or gifts or presents.
阿比德米：也许吧，或许我们可以用不太商业化的方式进行庆祝。我认为我们不用总是买那些大件物品。享受美好时光怎么样？和家人、朋友一起度过美好的时光，用不同的方式感谢他们，而不是我们只会想到的购物或是送礼物。

Rory: Yeah.
罗瑞：对。

Abidemi: Material things.
阿比德米：那些物质上的东西。

Rory: That's a nice idea.
罗瑞：这是个不错的主意。

Abidemi: Yeah. I think so. We'll save us some money, definitely, right?
阿比德米：嗯，我是这样认为的。这样我们还可以省钱，对吧？