英国圣诞前的“黑色星期五”

说到“黑色星期五”，想必大多数人首先想到的是美国那个著名的购物狂欢节。其实，英国也有个“黑色星期五”，到底是怎样的一天呢？让我们一起来扫扫盲。

In the United Kingdom, Black Friday was a historic nickname within the emergency services for the last Friday before Christmas, as this is the most popular night for office Christmas parties, which consequently makes it one of the busiest nights in the year for ambulances and the police.

在英国，圣诞节前最后一个周五被急救服务业戏称为“黑色星期五”。因为办公室圣诞派对大多在这一晚进行，也使之成为了令救护车和警察最忙碌的夜晚。

In most of the United Kingdom, including Cumbria, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, East Anglia, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Friday is referred to as Black Eye Friday, due to extremely high number of fights that break out in bars, pubs and clubs in the area.

在英国大部分地区，包括坎布里亚郡，泰恩-威尔郡，达勒姆郡，北约克郡，诺森伯兰郡，东安格利亚，北爱尔兰和苏格兰，这个星期五也被称为“乌眼青星期五”，因为在这一天里，上述地区的酒吧、酒馆和俱乐部打架斗殴的事件极多。

In 2013, it started to be named Mad Friday, probably to avoid confusion with the American shopping phenomena at the end of November called Black Friday, as this began to be adopted by many UK retailers.

2013年，也许为了避免与美国11月底的“黑色星期五”购物季混淆，也由于许多英国零售商开始接受这种购物季的说法，人们开始将“黑色星期五”称为“疯狂星期五”。

Known as "Mad" or "Black Friday", it marks the start of the festive season for many who are finishing work.

对于许多已完成工作的人来说，“疯狂”或“黑色星期五”标志着假日的开始。

（中国日报网英语点津  丁一）