56.All about Americans-Holidays美国人面面观：节假日

56.All about Americans-Holidays美国人面面观：节假日

【文章赏析】

美国这种巨大的移民国家，有着为数众多的不同民族不同地区的风俗习惯，连节假日都分为官方与非官方的。

The Americans observe their holidays on a two-tier system. In the first tier are the official government holidays. Most of these float to the nearest Monday to provide a series of three-day weekends for office drones.

The three summer holidays-Memorial Day, the Fourth of July (Independence Day) , and Labors Day-are consecrated to outdoor barbecues. All across the county homeowners dust off their Weber grills, open packs of hotdogs for the children and trays of chicken, steak, or ribs for the adults.

The population at large also observes a dozen or more unofficial holidays. St. Patrick's Day turns everybody in the United States into honorary Irishmen and women. Everything turns green. Bars serve green beer, bakeries produce green bagels, Chicago goes the extra mile and dyes the river green.

New Year's Eve celebrations on the East Coast center around televised events from Times Square, New York, the official arbiter of just when the New Year arrives. But since the United States covers five time zones, the New Year hops across the country in one-hour jumps, and by the time Hawaii blows its noisemakers for the New Year, the rest of the country is fast asleep.

美国人面面观：节假日

美国人过两种不同类型的节假日。第一种是官方的、政东法定的节假日。这些节假日大多数定在星期一,使上班度能过一个三天的周末。

夏天的三个节假日-阵亡将士纪念日、7月4日(独立日)和劳工节成了“法定的”户外烧烤日。全国上下,家家户户会擦去韦伯牌烤架上的灭4,打开一包包的热狗给孩子们，再取出一盘盘的鸡排、牛排或小排骨给大人。

大多数美国人还过一些非法定的节假日。圣帕特里克节将美国人通通变成名誉爱尔兰公民。他们把什么都变成绿色,酒吧里卖绿色的啤酒，面包店里卖绿色的硬面包圈。芝加哥更绝，将河水都染成绿色。

除夕夜在东海岸的活动以纽约时报广场电视播放的节目为主,新年到来的时间由宫方宣布。由于美国全国分成了个时区,新年就一小时一小时地从一个时区跳到另一个时区。等到夏威夷敲响新年钟声的时候，全国其他地区的人早已进入梦乡。