by anonymous翻譯：常青

New Year’s Eve in the United States跨年夜在美國(guó)

by anonymous翻譯：常青

Celebrate New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve is a major social holiday for most people in the United States. Many people hold parties at home or attend special celebrations to celebrate the upcoming New Year.

A particularly1)striking aspect of the New Year’s Eve festivities is the ball drop over Times Square in Manhattan, New York City. The ball is made of crystal and electric lights and is placed on top of a pole that is 23 meters high. At one minute before midnight on December 31st, the ball is lowered slowly down the pole. It comes to rest at the bottom of the pole at exactly midnight. The event has been held every year since 1907, except during World War II.

Know More

Times Square（紐約時(shí)報(bào)廣場(chǎng)，又稱時(shí)代廣場(chǎng)），美國(guó)紐約市曼哈頓的一塊繁華街區(qū)，被稱為“世界的十字路口”。1904年12月，《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》（New York Times）選在31日當(dāng)天遷入該廣場(chǎng)的新大樓，并在午夜施放煙火慶祝，那是人們第一次在時(shí)報(bào)廣場(chǎng)上舉辦新年狂歡活動(dòng)。

1) striking [?stra?k??] adj. 顯著的

Public Life

December 31stis not a federal holiday, but it does fall in the holiday season at the end of the year. Most schools throughout the United States are closed. Some organizations are closed,and others are open but offer limited services.Many stores are open on New Year’s Eve, but may close early. Many theaters, clubs and other entertainment venues have special programs.

Public transit systems may2)operate with normal or3)reduced services. There may be some traffic4)congestion or large scale events.Some companies will even help people who have attended their New Year’s Eve parties to return home safely.

詞組加油站

entertainment venue

娛樂場(chǎng)所

public transit system

公共交通系統(tǒng)

2) operate [??p?re?t] v. 運(yùn)行

3) reduced [r??dju?st] adj. 縮減的

4) congestion [k?n?d?est?n] n. 擁塞

名師考點(diǎn)小結(jié)

1. attend表示“參加”，指出席或參加會(huì)議、聚會(huì)及講座等。例如：

Everyone attended the party except Tom.

除了湯姆外，大家都參加了那個(gè)聚會(huì)。

注意：join同樣意為“參加”，指加入到某一組織、團(tuán)體中去，并成為其中的一員。例如：When did your brother join the army? 你的哥哥是何時(shí)參軍的？

2. at the end of意為“在……末端，在……盡頭”，既可以表示時(shí)間，也可以表示地點(diǎn)。例如：

at the end of the street 在街道盡頭（表示地點(diǎn)）

at the end of January 在1月底（表示時(shí)間）

at the end of the day 在當(dāng)天結(jié)束時(shí)（表示時(shí)間）

拓展：

1) by the end of… 到……結(jié)束時(shí)

They will learn one thousand new words by the end of this year.到今年年底，他們將學(xué)會(huì)一千個(gè)新單詞。

2) in the end 最后，終于

In the end, No.1 Middle School won the football match.

最終，第一中學(xué)贏得了這場(chǎng)足球比賽。

參考譯文

慶?？缒暌?/p>

對(duì)許多美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，跨年夜是一個(gè)重要的公共節(jié)日。大多數(shù)人會(huì)在家里舉辦派對(duì)，又或是參加特別的慶?；顒?dòng)來(lái)慶祝即將到來(lái)的新年。

紐約市曼哈頓時(shí)報(bào)廣場(chǎng)上的落球儀式是跨年夜慶?；顒?dòng)中相當(dāng)引人注目的一部分。由水晶玻璃和電燈制成的球體被放置在了一根23米高的桿子上。在12月31日午夜零點(diǎn)的前一分鐘，球會(huì)沿著桿子緩慢落下，到達(dá)底部時(shí)剛好零點(diǎn)。自1907年以來(lái)，除了二戰(zhàn)期間，這一活動(dòng)在每年都會(huì)舉行。

市民生活

12月31日不是聯(lián)邦假日，但它剛好落在了年底的放假季。美國(guó)的大部分學(xué)校都放假了。有些企業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)也已經(jīng)放假，而另一些企業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)雖然仍舊營(yíng)業(yè)，其提供的服務(wù)卻是有限的。許多商店在跨年夜依舊開業(yè)，但或許會(huì)提前打烊。許多劇院、俱樂部和其他娛樂場(chǎng)所都會(huì)安排專門的節(jié)目。

公共交通系統(tǒng)或許會(huì)正常運(yùn)行，但又或許會(huì)關(guān)閉部分服務(wù)。有些地方可能會(huì)發(fā)生交通堵塞，或者會(huì)舉辦大型的活動(dòng)。有的公司甚至?xí)朕k法幫助參加跨年派對(duì)的人們平安歸家。