花车游行（Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade）一直以来都是纽约市的感恩节传统项目。自1924年第145届感恩节花车游行起，这一游行的路线就一直延续到现在：上起77街、中央公园西，途径百老汇大街，最后汇集到先驱广场。而今年，由于纽约市政府将百老汇大街接近时代广场和先驱广场附近区域改为步行街，所以花车游行被迫改道至美国大道。这一改，可引起了不小的波澜。由于反响太过激烈，市政府于是宣布成立专人小组，对此事进行商讨。而游行的热衷群众也纷纷表示，改变游行路线就是破坏感恩节传统，让人无法接受。

Change the parade route? Can they even do that?

From Felix the Cat in 1927 to Bolt the dog in 2008, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has adapted, over the years, to changing times and cartoon fashions.

But one thing has always been constant: the final stretch of the parade route, down Broadway from Columbus Circle to Herald Square, through crowds lining the Great White Way.

That tradition appears to be doomed. The main culprit is the plan, unveiled last month by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, to turn Broadway into a pedestrian-only zone around Times Square and Herald Square this spring. If you can't drive a car down Broadway, you can't drive a float down it either

And so the city has begun the process of figuring out where the cat might hang his hat in November. Crain's New York Business, in its most recent issue, reported that the city was considering shifting the parade to Avenue of the Americas.

Scott Gastel, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, confirmed on Sunday that "a working group has been assembled on this matter, and recommendations will be made."

The president of the Times Square Alliance, Tim Tompkins, said the Avenue of the Americas was not the only route option. City officials told him, he said, that they were looking at the possibility of shifting parts of the parade to Seventh Avenue north of Times Square, which would keep the floats closer to Broadway.

Neither the Department of Transportation nor the mayor's office would say when a decision would be made or provide further details about the options.

For Macy's, a move off Broadway would be a major one.

"Broadway is part of the parade's history," said Elina Kazan, a spokeswoman for Macy's. "It would certainly be a bittersweet moment for us if we were to leave. But we're working with the city, the D.O.T. and other city agencies to come up with alternatives that will make it the best parade experience for everyone.”

尽管群众呼声强烈，然而百老汇大街在近年的游行中确实显得越来越不够用。2005年的时候，游行中漂浮大气球的线就曾缠绕在途径的一栋大楼上，并导致两人受伤。百老汇大街的宽度仅有39英尺，而游行要求街面至少要达到62英尺。如果真的转移到美国大道，就不存在这个问题了。

Even without the addition of a pedestrian mall, Broadway has come to seem less and less an ideal parade route in recent years because, despite its name, it is not particularly broad. After the ropes tethered to an M & M balloon caught on a streetlight at 43rd Street in 2005 and injured two people, an investigation found that the clearance there was only 39 feet wide, when Macy's own guidelines called for 62 feet of space. (After the accident, Macy's said it had submitted a plan to the city to "recontour the parade route," but no action was taken.)

No such strictures exist on Avenue of the Americas: it is six lanes and at least 60 feet wide.

而时代广场附近的生意人更是担心改变路线会影响他们在感恩节的收益。因为通常在这一天，人们会到沿途的宾馆订房间、以方便观看游行。相关的产业也会带动起来。而如果不从这里经过，生意一定会受创。

The news was greeted with some consternation in Times Square. Mr. Tompkins of the business alliance there said that moving the route would be "an economic hit to the neighborhood," particularly to hotels along the viewing route, like the Marriott Marquis, at Broadway and 46th Street, where rooms with views sell out months in advance.

In addition, he said, a shift would be "a missed opportunity for the city to put its best face forward. After all, what do you want to show the world, the razzle-dazzle of Times Square or sleepy old Sixth Avenue?"

He said the pedestrian mall could be set up in such a way that impediments to traffic could be moved for the parade.

At Embassy Electronics, on Seventh Avenue near 47th Street, a few feet from Broadway, Mustapha ben Khallouk, a salesman, shook his head at the prospect of a Thanksgiving without a parade passing by.

"It's not good for Times Square," he said. "Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days of the year for us — people stay all day. They already have most of the parades on Fifth and Sixth, so we should at least get to keep this one."

The parade, the only annual major march that uses Broadway, originally started at 145th Street in 1924. It now steps off at 77th Street and Central Park West, heads along the park to Columbus Circle, then moves down Broadway to Macy's at 34th Street.

（来源：沪江英语，英语点津Julie编辑）