关键词一：TV dinner (冰冻简餐)
In 1953, someone at Swanson severely overestimated the amount of turkey Americans would consume that Thanksgiving. With 260 tons of frozen birds to get rid of, a company salesman named Gerry Thomas ordered 5,000 aluminum trays, recruited an assembly line of women armed with spatulas and ice-cream scoops and began creating mini-feasts of turkey, corn-bread dressing, peas and sweet potatoes — creating the first-ever TV dinner.Thomas later said he got the idea from neatly packaged airplane food.
1953年，在美国斯万森的某公司严重错误地估计了美国人民在感恩节消耗火鸡的数量。面对卖不掉的260吨冰冻火鸡，该公司的销售员盖瑞汤玛斯定来5000个铝质餐盒和一个生产线的妇女，帮忙把火鸡肉切碎、分装，再配上甜玉米、青豆和土豆——就此创造了全世界第一盒冰冻简餐。汤玛斯说他的灵感来源于飞机餐。
关键词二：Football 橄榄球赛
Thanksgiving is ruled by two very powerful f-words: "food" and "football." Nearly as old as the sport itself, the tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving began in 1876, when the newly formed American Intercollegiate Football Association held its first championship game. Less than a decade later, more than 5,000 club, college and high school football teams held games on Thanksgiving, with match-ups between Princeton and Yale drawing more than 40,000 fans out from their dining rooms. 1934 marked the first NFL game held on Thanksgiving when the Detroit Lions took on the Chicago Bears. The Lions have played on Thanksgiving ever since — except, of course, when the team was called away to serve during World War II.
感恩节是由两个F开头的字组成的：食物food和橄榄球football。从1876年、美国橄榄球联盟开始举办首届联赛开始，在感恩节就有看橄榄球赛的传统——几乎和这项运动本身的历史一样长。其后不到十年的时间内，更有超过5000所俱乐部、大学和高中的橄榄球队在这一天举行比赛。其中普林斯顿和耶鲁的比赛更是吸引了超过4万名球迷到场观看。1934年，超级碗首次在伽嫩届当天举行比赛，那天是由底特律雄狮对阵芝加哥熊。雄狮队自此每遇感恩节都有比赛——除了二战期间队员们服役才中断过。
关键词三：Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR learned the hard way not to mess with some traditions. In 1939, the President declared that Americans should celebrate the annual feast one week early, hoping the decision would spur retail sales during the Great Depression. But Americans did not react kindly to the New Deal meal. Some took to the streets while others took to name-calling; the mayor of Atlantic City solved the controversy by declaring his residents would simply enjoy two meals — Thanksgiving and "Franksgiving." After two years of squabbling (or gobbling, as it were), Congress adopted a resolution in 1941 setting the fourth Thursday of November as the legal holiday.
。1939年，这位总统阁下宣布美国应该提前一周过感恩节，希望此举能够刺激大萧条中的美国经济。哪知美国人民不买他的账：有的抗议、有的玩起了文字游戏。大西洋城的市长就宣称，他家会过两个节：“感恩节”和“福兰克恩节”。在经过整整两年的争论(或者根本就是斗嘴)之后，国会终于妥协，在1941年将感恩节法定假日定在了11月的第四个星期四。
关键词四："Mary Had a Little Lamb" 玛丽有只小羊羔
The woman who wrote the classic nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" also played an integral role in making Thanksgiving a national holiday. After a 17-year letter-writing campaign, magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale finally convinced President Abraham Lincoln to issue an 1863 decree recognizing the historic tradition.
Sarah Josepha Hale，这位写下传世诗句《玛丽有只小羊羔》的女性在为感恩节争取法定中也扮演了重要一角儿。1863年，当时作为杂志编辑的她在经过了长达17年的写信呼吁之后，总统林肯终于颁发文件承认了感恩节这一传统假日。
关键词五：Westminster Abbey 西敏寺
In 1942, Londons Westminster Abbey held Thanksgiving services for U.S. troops stationed in England. More than 3,500 soldiers filled the churchs pews to sing America, the Beautiful and The Star-Spangled Banner — the first time in the churchs 900-year history that a foreign army was invited to take over the grounds. It was an ironic gesture given the holidays origins as a festival for pilgrims fleeing religious tyranny in Britain.
1942年，为表彰美国军队保护英国，伦敦西敏寺为美国军人举行了感恩节宴会。当时有超过3500人到场，齐唱“美丽的美国和星条旗”——这是这座教堂900年来第一次邀请外国军队驻足。讽刺的是，。
关键词六：Pardon 赦免
The annual White House tradition of pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving began in 1947, when President Harry Truman took pity on one lucky fowl. Other historians say the practice began during the 1860s, when Abraham Lincoln granted a pardon to a pet turkey belonging to his son, Tad. The tradition may alleviate some of Americas guilt, but it doesnt stop us from slaughtering more than 46 million turkeys for the holiday. Even so, as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin proved during a recent interview in her hometown, Americans prefer public acts of mercy to massacres.
感恩节前，由总统在白宫“赦免”一只火鸡的传统始于1947年，当时是由杜鲁门总统放生了一只幸运的火鸡。还有一些历史学家认为这一传统起源于1860年，林肯总统释放了一只由他儿子养的宠物火鸡。这一传统也许减轻了某些美国人的负罪感，但仍旧无法湮灭我们一年吃掉460万只火鸡的事实。即便如此，就如阿拉斯加议员Sarah Palin在最近一次采访中提到的那样：相对于大屠杀，美国人还是更喜欢公众场合的慈善行为。
关键词七：hail 批判
While the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, it would take more than 150 years before all 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at once, in October 1777. In 1789, George Washington hailed the holiday, while President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the notion, calling Thanksgiving "the most ridiculous idea" ever conceived. For his part, Benjamin Franklin had such an affinity for turkey that he lobbied to make it the national bird (to no avail).
虽然历史上的第一个感恩节在1621年就诞生了，但直到150年后的1777年这一节日才得到全美13个殖民地的一致认同。1789年，乔治华盛顿批判了这一节日，而汤马斯杰弗森总统也嘲笑了感恩节这个概念是有史以来“最荒谬的点子”。对于他而言，!)
关键词八：Turduckens 火鸡鸭
Thanks to the culinary genius of Louisiana (or Wyoming or South Carolina — each region has staked its claim), more and more Americans are forsaking Butterballs for Turduckens. A what? Picture this: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Its like a Russian nesting doll only with poultry. One store in Louisiania claims to ship more than 5,000 turduckens the week before the feast. Though this may seem like sacrilege to some, the original Thanksgiving meal featured fish, oysters, eel and lobster as well as wild turkey. Other modern pilgrims settle for a tofu version ("tofurkey") or the wildly dangerous "deep-fried turkey."
得益于路易斯安那的烹饪天才(或是怀俄明、或是南卡罗来纳——每个地区都声称是自己的创造)，越来越多的美国人需要鸭子来烹饪“火鸡鸭”了。什么?火鸡鸭!是的，一只鸡套在鸭子里、再套进火鸡——就像俄罗斯套娃那样!路易斯安那的一家店声称他们在节前一周卖出了5000分火鸡鸭。可能对有的人来说是种亵渎，但事实上，最原始的感恩节大餐是由鱼、生蚝、鳗、龙虾和野生火鸡组成的。其他现代人也吃用豆腐做的火鸡(豆火鸡)，或是很危险的“炸火鸡”。
关键词九：Indians 印第安人
Thanksgiving was initially meant to be a fast, not a feast. The devout settlers at Plymouth Rock mostly recognized "giving of thanks" in the form of prayer and abstaining from food. But the Wampanoag Indians, who joined the pilgrims for their 3-day celebration, contributed their own harvest traditions — dancing, games and feasting — from their ancient festival, Nickommoh, meaning "to give away" or "exchange."
感恩节最初的设定是一场“斋戒”，而不是“盛宴”。在普利茅斯的殖民者们一开始对感恩的理解是祈祷、并克制对食物的需求。而后来Wampanoag的印第安人加入了进来开始三天的庆祝，并带来他们丰收节的传统——跳舞、游戏和盛宴。这是古代印第安人的传统节日Nickommoh，意味着“付出”或“交换”。
关键词十：name 名字
Three towns have been named after the holidays starring player — Turkey, Texas, Turkey Creek, La. and Turkey, N.C. — each with less than 500 residents. Legend has it that the pheasants name came from the wayward traveler Christopher Columbus, who thought he was in India when he arrived in "The New World" and, hence, dubbed the pheasant a "tuka," an Indian term for peacock. The name stuck.
全美有三个不到500人的小镇是由“火鸡”命名的：德克萨斯的火鸡镇;洛杉矶的火鸡湾和北卡罗来纳的火鸡镇。据传说，探险家哥伦比亚到新大陆的时候一位自己到了印度，于是把这种鸟(就是火鸡)命名为“tuka”——印度语里的孔雀。于是火鸡的名字就这么延续下来了。