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 福兰克林·D·罗斯福

　　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.

　　福兰克林·罗斯福总统可是吃了点儿亏才学会有些传统改不得。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：有的上街游行抗议、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。

　　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。