Thanksgiving Day

1. Thanksgiving Day

3. Hello !

4. Thanksgiving Day

5. Thanksgiving Day • It is one of America's most popular holidays. • It is a day for expressing thanks for the good things in life, especially family and friends.

6. Thanksgiving Day • I'm Shirley Griffith. and I'm Sarah Long. The story of Thanksgiving is our report today on the VOA special English program, This is America. • This Thursday is Th-g day. The writer O. Henry called it the one day that is purely American. Th-g is not a religious holiday. But it has spiritual meaning. • Some Americans attend church ceremonies on Th-g morning. Others travel long distances to be with their families. They have a large dinner, which is the main part of the celebration.

7. Thanksgiving Day • For many Americans, Th-g is the only time of year when all members of a family gather together. • So, the holiday is considered a time of family reunion. About thirty-million Americans are expected to travel this week to be with their families. It is the busiesttravel time of the year in the United States. • More than any other holiday, Th-gis a celebration of family and home. Here is part of a traditional Th-g song. It is called "Bless This House." It is sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

8. Thanksgiving Day • On Th-g, family and friends enjoy a long day of cooking, eating, and talking. • The Th-g meal almost always includes turkey meat with a bread mixture cooked inside. Other traditional foods are sweet potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. • Stores sell more food at Th-g than at any other time of the year. And many people eat more food Th-g than at any other time of the year.

9. My pleasure!

10. Thanksgiving Day • Th-g is celebrated every year on the ____. (The month of Nov. is autumn in the United States.)Autumn is the season when crops are gathered. • When the first European settlers in America gathered their crops, they celebrated. They thanked their God for the success of the harvest.

11. Thanksgiving Day 1621 • Tradition says the first Th-g was celebrated in ____ by Pilgrim settlers from England. There is evidence that settlers in other parts of America held earlier Th-g celebrations. But the Pilgrims' Th-g story is the most popular. • The Pilgrims were religious dissidents (持不同政见者) who fled oppression in England. They went first to the Netherlands. Then they left that country to ________ a colony in north America. The Pilgrims landed in 1620 in what later became known as Plymouth, Massachusetts. establish

12. Thanksgiving Day • Their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean was difficult. Their first months in America were difficult, too. About 100 Pilgrims landed just as autumn was turning to winter. During the cold months that followed, about half of them died. • When spring came, the Pilgrims began planting crops. A native American Indian named Squanto helped them. When summer ended, the Pilgrims had a good harvest of corn and barley. Some vegetables had grown poorly, yet there was enough food to last through the winter.

14. Thanksgiving Day • The Pilgrims decided to hold a celebration to give thanks for their harvest. Writings from that time say that Pilgrim leader William Bradford set a date late in the year. He invited members of a nearby Indian tribe to take part. • That Th-g celebration lasted three days. There were many kinds of foods to eat. The meal included wild birds such as ducks, geese, and -- possibly -- turkeys.

18. Thanksgiving Day • The declaration of a national Thanksgiving holiday resulted from the efforts of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale. • She began her campaign in the1820’s. Mrs. Hale was a writer. She wrote stories about a national day of Th-g in a publication for women. • She also wrote many letters to Presidents and other public officials. She _____ them to support the idea. urged

20. Thanksgiving Day 1863 • Support grew slowly. Finally, in ____, President Abraham Lincoln declared the 4th… as a national holiday of Th-g. • At that time, the United States was fighting a civil war. President Lincoln liked the idea of a Th-g holiday that would also celebrate national unity. • Since then, the United States has always celebrated the Th-g holiday.

22. Thanksgiving Day • American writer Diana Karter Appelbaum wrote a book about Th-g. She said Th-g became important partly because the United States was a new nation. She said the U.S. needed traditions that would help hold the new nation together. • Over the years, some new traditions were added to America's Th-g celebration. For example, a number of professional and university football games are played on Th-g Day. Some of the games are broadcast on national television.

23. Thanksgiving Day • Several Th-g Day parades are broadcast on television, too. These parades are organized by big stores in several American cities. The parade organized by the Macy's store in New York is the biggest. • Giant balloons 20 meters high float above the street. The balloons are in the shape of creatures from popular cartoons and television programs. People on the ground hold heavy ropes so the balloons do not fly away.

25. Thanksgiving Day • Th-g also is a time when Americans share what they have with those who do not have much. • Churches and other groups provide free Th-g meals for old people, the homeless, and the poor. • Many Americans give turkeys or other food to these groups. Some spend part of the day helping to prepare and serve the meals.

26. Thanksgiving Day • Religious ceremonies are an important part of Th-g Day for many Americans. People join in prayers and songs Th-g. One of the most famous songs is called "Prayer of Th-g." • The words and music tell of the traditional meaning of Th-g. We gather with our family. We share what we have, and we give thanks for the good things of the past year. • Here is the Boston Pops Orchestra and Chorus singing "Prayer of Th-g."

28. 美国一年一度感恩节，千万火鸡的“受难日”。

29. I have a dream!

31. Bush gives a Presidential pardon

32. 赦免的传统 • 每年一度的总统放生火鸡仪式始于1947年杜鲁门总统当政时期， • 但实际上这个传统仪式可以追溯到美国内战林肯总统当政的时期. 1863年的一天， • 林肯的儿子泰德突然闯入内阁会议请求赦免一只名叫杰克的宠物火鸡，因为这只被送进白宫的火鸡，即将成为人们的圣诞节大餐。

33. 总统赦免火鸡 • “飞鸟”和“火鸟”幸免于难，没有成为2006年感恩节餐桌上的盘中餐，而是得到了布什总统的赦免。 • 布什总统说：“今天上午，我将给予‘飞鸟’和‘火鸟’总统特赦，它们从此可以安全的生活了。” • 这两只逃过“死劫”的火鸡来自美国中西部的密苏里州，它们将要作为最高名誉司仪参加在加州迪斯尼主题公园举行的感恩节游行活动。 • 布什总统在赦免仪式上说，感恩节是美国人感谢上帝恩赐的节日。

34. Let’s talk turkey. • talk turkey是指直率地说或谈正经事。 • 这一典故源自北美。相传在北美殖民地时期，一天，一个白人和一个印第安黑人一起外出打猎，事先约定好了要平分所得猎物。然而他们的运气不佳，一天下来，仅打到一只火鸡（turkey）和一只鹧鸪（partridge）。 • 白人盯着火鸡，想把它据为己有，但又不敢直接说。于是假装大方地对印第安人说：“如果你想要火鸡，就拿去吧！鹧鸪虽小了些，味道却很鲜美；如果你喜欢鹧鸪，我就拿火鸡了。” • 印第安人早已看穿了他的心思，于是针锋相对地说：“你一直在跟我讲火鸡，那好现在让我也对你讲讲火鸡吧!” • 后来人们这一成语指 “直率地说; 谈正经事; 打开窗户说亮话;开诚布公”。

35. talk turkey • The time has come to talk turkey about our national debt.（是该严肃地讨论一下我国的负债问题了。） • talk (cold) turkey也表示“坦率面对令人不快的真相” • cold turkey表示“突然完全停止某种成瘾坏习惯 • Since the day a friend of mine died of lung cancer, I decided to go cold turkey and never light up another cigarette. • 从我一个朋友因为肺癌去世的那天起，我就下定决心彻底戒烟，以后我再也没有抽过一支烟。

36. 感 恩 的 心 Giving Thanks • Philip: Then in that spirit let each of us give thanks each in his own way Who wants to begin? • Grandpa: I give thanks for being here with my family and for being well so I can enjoy you all, • Susan: I'd like to give thanks for a healthy year, a good job, and for meeting Harry and Michelle. • Robbie:I’d like to give thanks for Grandpa coming to live with us.我感谢爷爷来和我们一起生活。 • And I’d also like to thank my math teacher for giving me a passing grade感谢我的数学老师给我及格分数。--《走遍美国》 Give your thanks, please!

38. 要点回顾 The first Th-g was in 1621. Th-g was about the Pilgrims,the first settlers in America. They shared the first harvest with the Indians and gave thanks.

39. The traditional meaning of Th. We gather with our family. We share what we have, and we give thanks for the good things of the past year. 要点回顾 Happy Thanskgiving Day！

40. 感 恩 的 心 Every day is Th-g Day!