英國圣誕前的“黑色星期五”

說到“黑色星期五”，想必大多數人首先想到的是美國那個著名的購物狂歡節。其實，英國也有個“黑色星期五”，到底是怎樣的一天呢？讓我們一起來掃掃盲。

In the United Kingdom, Black Friday was a historic nickname within the emergency services for the last Friday before Christmas, as this is the most popular night for office Christmas parties, which consequently makes it one of the busiest nights in the year for ambulances and the police.

在英國，圣誕節前最后一個周五被急救服務業戲稱為“黑色星期五”。因為辦公室圣誕派對大多在這一晚進行，也使之成為了令救護車和警察最忙碌的夜晚。

In most of the United Kingdom, including Cumbria, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, East Anglia, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Friday is referred to as Black Eye Friday, due to extremely high number of fights that break out in bars, pubs and clubs in the area.

在英國大部分地區，包括坎布里亞郡，泰恩-威爾郡，達勒姆郡，北約克郡，諾森伯蘭郡，東安格利亞，北愛爾蘭和蘇格蘭，這個星期五也被稱為“烏眼青星期五”，因為在這一天里，上述地區的酒吧、酒館和俱樂部打架斗毆的事件極多。

In 2013, it started to be named Mad Friday, probably to avoid confusion with the American shopping phenomena at the end of November called Black Friday, as this began to be adopted by many UK retailers.

2013年，也許為了避免與美國11月底的“黑色星期五”購物季混淆，也由于許多英國零售商開始接受這種購物季的說法，人們開始將“黑色星期五”稱為“瘋狂星期五”。

Known as "Mad" or "Black Friday", it marks the start of the festive season for many who are finishing work.

對于許多已完成工作的人來說，“瘋狂”或“黑色星期五”標志著假日的開始。

（中國日報網英語點津? 丁一）