青春無敵

Sam bumped into Jason after school, and they started to talk about their plans for the coming weekend.

(山姆放學後巧遇傑森，他們開始聊起周末的計畫。)

Sam:

Jason, have you finished the essay for the English literature?

(傑森，你完成英國文學的報告了嗎？)

Jason:

Yeah. I finished it yesterday.

(有喔！我昨天就寫完了。)

Sam:

So soon! I plan to do it over the weekend.

(這麼快！我打算周末才要做。)

Jason:

Over the weekend? You’re not going to Black Friday sales?

(周末？你不打算去黑色星期五的特賣會搶購嗎？)

Sam:

Black Friday sales? Yeah. That does remind me that I keep seeing posters and TV commercials on Black Friday sales recently.

(黑色星期五的特賣會？嗯，這倒讓我想到最近我一直看到海報和電視廣告宣傳黑色星期五的特賣會。)

Jason:

Of course you do. Black Friday is big! Since it is the day after Thanksgiving, many states in America have the day off to make it a four-day weekend. So retailers wouldn’t miss the opportunity to hold doorbuster sales to booster their revenues.

(這是當然的啊！黑色星期五是很重要的日子！因為它是接著感恩節的隔一天，美國很多州都會放假，所以包含周末有四天連假。因此零售商都不會錯過這個機會，舉辦開門大搶購，增加營收。)

Sam:

Really? I don’t know that. I do know Friday the 13th, but Black Friday? It just sounds negative to me, you know, just like Black Death, black cats and things like that.

(真的嗎？我不知道耶！我知道13號星期五，但是黑色星期五？聽起來就很像黑死病、黑貓等等的，感覺很負面。)

Jason:

Well, I can’t blame you for thinking that way. But actually the term “Black Friday” is derived from the fact that retail stores almost always make big bucks on that day, going from “in the red” to “in the black.”

(嗯，你會這麼想是正常的，但其實黑色星期五這名詞是源自於零售店在這一天幾乎都會賺大錢，營收由虧損變成盈餘。)

Sam:

I see. But what makes it different from other sales? Aren’t there other similar sales all year round?

(原來如此，但這樣它跟其他特賣會有何不同？一年裡不是也有其它類似的特賣會嗎？)

Jason:

Well, with Christmas just weeks away, people want to pamper themselves after their hard work for the past year. So generally, Black Friday has been considered the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Plus, some stores offer the best bargains of the year on Black Friday only.

(嗯，因為聖誕節就剩幾個星期，人們辛苦了一年，想好好的犒賞自己，所以一般來說，黑色星期五一直被認為是耶誕購物季的開始。而且有些商店只會在黑色星期五這天提供最優惠的特價商品。)

Sam:

Okay! That does sound very tempting.

(好的，那的確聽起來很誘人。)

Jason:

It does! That’s why some people camp out over the Thanksgiving holiday in order to secure a place in front of the line and thus have a better chance at getting the items they want.

(是啊！那就是為何有些人會在感恩節那天，便開始在外紮營，搶得隊伍前面的位置，這樣才有可能買到他們想買的東西。)

Sam:

Wow! That really sounds extreme, especially with the weather being this cold.

(哇！那真的聽起來很極端，尤其在這麼冷的天氣。)

Jason:

That’s because you may save hundreds of dollars on those big-ticket items!

(那是因為買昂貴商品的話，有可能省下數百元美金啊！)

Sam:

Jason, you do sound like an experienced bargain hunter!

(傑森，看來找特價商品，你真的聽起來很有經驗耶！)

Jason:

As a matter of fact, I’m going to camp out at Walmart tomorrow. I have my eye on a SONY flat screen TV.

(其實，我明天打算要在沃爾瑪外面紮營，我想要買一台新力的液晶電視螢幕。)

retailer

n. [C] 零售商、零售店

doorbuster sales

ph. 開門大搶購

make big bucks

ph. 賺大錢

in the red

ph. 有虧損

in the black

ph. 有盈餘

pamper

v. 寵愛

shopping season

ph. 購物季

bargain

n. [C] 特價商品、便宜貨

camp out

ph. 在外紮營

big-ticket

adj. 昂貴的(放在名詞前修飾)

bargain hunter

ph. 搜尋特價商品的人

have one’s eye on

ph. 想要得到、密切注意