感恩节的由来+五月花号（中英）

发布时间：2016-09-05 21:19:52 来源：文档文库

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The Origin of Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day

Fourth Thursday in November

Almost every culture in the world has held celebrations of thanks for a plentiful harvest. The American Thanksgiving holiday began as a feast of thanksgiving in the early days of the American colonies almost four hundred years ago.

In 1620, a boat filled with more than one hundred people sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in the New World（新大陆）. This religious group had begun to question the beliefs of the Church of England and they wanted to separate from it. The Pilgrims settled in what is now the state of Massachusetts. Their first winter in the New World was difficult. They had arrived too late to grow many crops, and without fresh food, half the colony died from disease. The following spring the Iroquois Indians（美国纽约州东北部易洛魁族印第安人）taught them how to grow corn, a new food for the colonists. They showed them other crops to grow in the unfamiliar soil and how to hunt and fish.

In the autumn of 1621, bountiful crops of corn, barley（大麦）, beans and pumpkins were harvested. The colonists had much to be thankful for, so a feast was planned. They invited the local Indian chief and 90 Indians. The Indians brought deer to roast with the turkeys and other wild game offered by the colonists. The colonists had learned how to cook cranberries and different kinds of corn and squash dishes from the Indians. To this first Thanksgiving, the Indians had even brought popcorn.

In following years, many of the original colonists celebrated the autumn harvest with a feast of thanks.

After the United States became an independent country, Congress recommended one yearly day of thanksgiving for the whole nation to celebrate. George Washington suggested the date November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Then in 1863, at the end of a long and bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, a different date every year. The President must proclaim that date as the official celebration.

Thanksgiving is a time for tradition and sharing. Even if they live far away, family members gather for a reunion at the house of an older relative. All give thanks together for the good things that they have.

In this spirit of sharing, civic groups and charitable organizations offer a traditional meal to those in need, particularly the homeless. On most tables throughout the United States, foods eaten at the first thanksgiving have become traditional.

Symbols of Thanksgiving

Turkey, corn, pumpkins and cranberry sauce（酸果曼沙司）are symbols which represent the first Thanksgiving. Now all of these symbols are drawn on holiday decorations and greeting cards. The use of corn meant the survival of the colonies. "Indian corn" as a table or door decoration represents the harvest and the fall season.

Sweet-sour cranberry sauce, or cranberry jelly, was on the first Thanksgiving table and is still served today. The cranberry is a small, sour berry. It grows in bogs（沼泽）, or muddy areas, in Massachusetts and other New England states. The Indians used the fruit to treat infections. They used the juice to dye their rugs and blankets. They taught the colonists how to cook the berries with sweetener（甜味佐料）and water to make a sauce. The Indians called it "ibimi" which means "bitter berry." When the colonists saw it, they named it "crane-berry" because the flowers of the berry bent the stalk over, and it resembled the long-necked bird called a crane. The berries are still grown in New England.

In 1988, a Thanksgiving ceremony of a different kind took place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. More than four thousand people gathered on Thanksgiving night. Among them were Native Americans representing tribes from all over the country and descendants of people whose ancestors had migrated to the New World.

The ceremony was a public acknowledgment of the Indians' role in the first Thanksgiving 350 years ago. Until recently most schoolchildren believed that the Pilgrims cooked the entire Thanksgiving feast, and offered it to the Indians. In fact, the feast was planned to thank the Indians for teaching them how to cook those foods. Without the Indians, the first settlers would not have survived. (译文仅供参考大意)

感恩节的来历

11月的第四个星期四是感恩节。感恩节是美国人民独创的一个古老节日，也是

美国人合家欢聚的节日，因此美国人提起感恩节总是备感亲切。感恩节是美国国

定假日中最地道、最美国式的节日(holiday)，它和早期美国历史最为密切相关。

1620年，一些朝拜者乘坐“五月花”号船去美洲寻求宗教自由。他们在海上颠簸

了两个月之后，终于在酷寒的十一月里，在现在的马莎塞州的普里茅斯登陆。

在第一个冬天，半数以上的移民都死于(die)饥饿和传染病，活下来的人们在第一

个春季即1621年开始播种。整个夏天(summer)他们都热切地盼望着丰收的到

来，他们深知自己的生存以及殖民地的存在都将取决于即将到来的收成。最后

(finally)，庄稼获得了意外的丰收，为了感谢上帝赐予的丰收，举行了3天的狂

欢活动。从此，这一习俗就沿续下来，并逐渐风行各地。1863年，美国总统林

肯宣布每年十一月的第四个星期四为感恩节。感恩节庆祝活动便定在这一天，直

到如今。届时，家家团聚，举国同庆，其盛大、热烈的情形，不亚于中国人过春

节。

感恩节庆祝模式许多年来从未改变。丰盛的家宴早在几个月之前就开始着手准

备。人们在餐桌上可以吃到苹果、桔子、栗子、胡桃和葡萄，还有葡萄干布丁、

碎肉馅饼、各种其他食物以及红莓苔汁和鲜果汁，其中最妙和最吸引人的大菜是

烤火鸡(roastturkey)和南瓜馅饼(pumpkinpie)，这些菜一直是感恩节中最富于传

统和最受人喜爱的食品(food)。

The Mayflower Compact

IN The Name of God, Amen.

We whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King

James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia;

Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one another,

covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof do enact,

constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. In WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.

John Carver Edward Tilley Degory Priest William Bradford John Tilley Thomas Williams Edward Winslow Francis Cooke Gilbert Winslow William Brewster Thomas Rogers Edmund Margeson Issac Allerton Thomas Tinker Peter Browne Myles Standish John Rigdale Richard Britteridge John Alden Edward Fuller Georoe Soule Samuel Fuller John Turner Richard Clarke Christopher Martin Francis Eaton Richard Gardiner William Mullins James Chilton John Allerton William White John Crackston Thomas English Richard Warren John Billington Edward Dotey John Howland Moses Fletcher Edward Leister Stephen Hopkins John Goodman

译文仅供参考大意：

“以上帝的名义，阿门。

吾等纪念石头签约之人，信仰之捍卫者，蒙上帝恩佑的大不列颠、法兰西及爱尔兰国王詹姆斯陛下的忠顺臣民----为了上帝的荣耀,为了吾王与基督信仰和荣誉的增进,吾等越海扬帆,以在弗吉尼亚北部开拓最初之殖民地,因此在上帝面前共同庄严立誓签约,自愿结为一公民团体。为使上述目的得以顺利进行、维持并发展，亦为将来能随时制定和实施有益于本殖民地总体利益的一应公正和平等法律、法规、条令、宪章与公职，吾等全体保证遵守与服从。