英语版国外民俗感恩节介绍.docVIP

The Story of American Thanksgiving(Contributed by Bing Wei, Granny Bettys Story Time?) 每逢11月第四个星期四，美国人迎来了自己最重要的传统节日感恩节。感恩节，原是清教徒为感谢上天赐与的好收成，同时，也表达了新英格兰“移民”对印第安土著居民最初的谢意。如今，这一传统节日更多意味着合家团聚。下文以历史为脉络，探究了感恩节的渊源，并把目光锁定在1621年翔实的感恩“盛宴”上。阅读完文字，别忘点击附带的小测试。 HYPERLINK /language_tips/2006-06/17/content_619468.htm HYPERLINK /language_tips/2006-06/17/content_619469.htm HYPERLINK /language_tips/2006-06/17/content_619470.htm HYPERLINK /language_tips/2006-06/17/content_619471.htm Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday and not celebrated in continental Europe. On the fourth Thursday of each November, families and friends gather together for the occasion to celebrate with a traditional turkey dinner, usually in the mid-afternoon. Thanksgiving originated as a celebration of the years harvest and is similar to the Mid-Autumn Festival in China. ? The origin of the Thanksgiving Day This American tradition started in 1621 before the United States of America was established. It was a huge celebration for a hard-earned harvest the first year after arriving in the New World. On September 6, 1620, the Mayflower ship set sail from Plymouth, Devon, England, taking all the English Pilgrims （清教徒）to the New World. The English Pilgrims numbered about a hundred people, and left England to escape religious persecution. Their voyage to the New World was financed by Merchant Adventurers, an English investor group. The Pilgrims sailed sixty-six days, arrived in the New World in November of the same year. They first settled in a cornfield abandoned by Native Indians and named it Plymouth Plantation. They worked on the land with much difficulty and were beset by a devastating plague in which half of the Pilgrim died in the long winter of 1620. In the spring of 1621, an Indian brave named Squanto and her Wampanoag （瓦帕浓人，北美印第安人阿尔琴族一部落）tribe came to their help. The tribe taught the Pilgrims how to work the earth and plant corn, beans, pumpkins, squash and other crops. ??The Thanksgiving feas