閱讀的提高不是一朝一夕的事情，是一篇篇文章積累下來的，對于即將參加雅思考試的考生來說，多閱讀一些好的素材對于備考來說是十分有幫助的。今天我們就為大家整理了雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事，一起來了解一下吧。

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞：TV dinner

　　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，在美國斯萬森的某公司嚴重錯誤地估計了美國人民在感恩節(jié)消耗火雞的數(shù)量。面對賣不掉的260噸冰凍火雞，該公司的銷售員蓋瑞湯瑪斯定來5000個鋁質(zhì)餐盒和一個生產(chǎn)線的婦女，幫忙把火雞肉切碎、分裝，再配上甜玉米、青豆和土豆——就此創(chuàng)造了全世界第一盒冰凍簡餐。湯瑪斯說他的靈感來源于飛機餐。

　　感恩節(jié)和冰凍簡餐

　　關(guān)鍵詞：Football

　　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.

　　感恩節(jié)是由兩個F開頭的字組成的：食物food和橄欖球football。從1876年、美國橄欖球聯(lián)盟開始舉辦首屆聯(lián)賽開始，在感恩節(jié)就有看橄欖球賽的傳統(tǒng)——幾乎和這項運動本身的歷史一樣長。其后不到十年的時間內(nèi)，更有超過5000所俱樂部、大學(xué)和高中的橄欖球隊在這一天舉行比賽。其中普林斯頓和耶魯?shù)谋荣惛俏顺^4萬名球迷到場觀看。1934年，超級碗首次在伽嫩屆當(dāng)天舉行比賽，那天是由底特律雄獅對陣芝加哥熊。雄獅隊自此每遇感恩節(jié)都有比賽——除了二戰(zhàn)期間隊員們服役才中斷過。

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞：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.

　　福蘭克林·羅斯?？偨y(tǒng)可是吃了點兒虧才學(xué)會有些傳統(tǒng)改不得。1939年，這位總統(tǒng)閣下宣布美國應(yīng)該提前一周過感恩節(jié)，希望此舉能夠刺激大蕭條中的美國經(jīng)濟。哪知美國人民不買他的賬：有的上街游行抗議、有的玩起了文字游戲。大西洋城的市長就宣稱，他家會過兩個節(jié)：“感恩節(jié)”和“福蘭克恩節(jié)”。在經(jīng)過整整兩年的爭論(或者根本就是斗嘴)之后，國會終于妥協(xié)，在1941年將感恩節(jié)法定假日定在了11月的第四個星期四。

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞："Mary Had a Little Lamb"

　　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，這位寫下傳世詩句《瑪麗有只小羊羔》的女性在為感恩節(jié)爭取法定中也扮演了重要一角兒。1863年，當(dāng)時作為雜志編輯的她在經(jīng)過了長達17年的寫信呼吁之后，總統(tǒng)林肯終于頒發(fā)文件承認了感恩節(jié)這一傳統(tǒng)假日。

　　關(guān)鍵詞：Westminster Abbey

　　In 1942, London's Westminster Abbey held Thanksgiving services for U.S. troops stationed in England. More than 3,500 soldiers filled the church'spews to sing America, the Beautiful and The Star-Spangled Banner — the first time in the church's 900-year history that a foreign army was invited to take over the grounds. It was an ironic gesture given the holiday's origins as a festival for pilgrims fleeing religious tyranny in Britain.

　　1942年，為表彰美國軍隊保護英國，倫敦西敏寺為美國軍人舉行了感恩節(jié)宴會。當(dāng)時有超過3500人到場，齊唱“美麗的美國和星條旗”——這是這座教堂900年來第一次邀請外國軍隊駐足。諷刺的是，這個節(jié)日的緣由正是因為當(dāng)年遷徙到美國的清教徒們在英國受到宗教迫害。

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞：Pardon

　　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 America's guilt, but it doesn't 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.

　　感恩節(jié)前，由總統(tǒng)在白宮“赦免”一只火雞的傳統(tǒng)始于1947年，當(dāng)時是由杜魯門總統(tǒng)放生了一只幸運的火雞。還有一些歷史學(xué)家認為這一傳統(tǒng)起源于1860年，林肯總統(tǒng)釋放了一只由他兒子養(yǎng)的寵物火雞。這一傳統(tǒng)也許減輕了某些美國人的負罪感，但仍舊無法湮滅我們一年吃掉460萬只火雞的事實。即便如此，就如阿拉斯加議員Sarah Palin在最近一次采訪中提到的那樣：相對于大屠殺，美國人還是更喜歡公眾場合的慈善行為。

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞：hail

　　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).

　　雖然歷史上的第一個感恩節(jié)在1621年就誕生了，但直到150年后的1777年這一節(jié)日才得到全美13個殖民地的一致認同。1789年，喬治華盛頓批判了這一節(jié)日，而湯馬斯杰弗森總統(tǒng)也嘲笑了感恩節(jié)這個概念是有史以來“最荒謬的點子”。對于他而言，本杰明富蘭克林顯然是因為太熱愛火雞才要求把它定為國鳥(而這一點益處都沒有!)

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞：Turduckens

　　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. It's 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飪天才(或是懷俄明、或是南卡羅來納——每個地區(qū)都聲稱是自己的創(chuàng)造)，越來越多的美國人需要鴨子來烹飪“火雞鴨”了。什么?火雞鴨!是的，一只雞套在鴨子里、再套進火雞——就像俄羅斯套娃那樣!路易斯安那的一家店聲稱他們在節(jié)前一周賣出了5000分火雞鴨?？赡軐τ械娜藖碚f是種褻瀆，但事實上，最原始的感恩節(jié)大餐是由魚、生蠔、鰻、龍蝦和野生火雞組成的。其他現(xiàn)代人也吃用豆腐做的火雞(豆火雞)，或是很危險的“炸火雞”。

　　雅思閱讀

　　關(guān)鍵詞：Indians

　　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 ancientfestival, Nickommoh, meaning "to give away" or "exchange."

　　感恩節(jié)最初的設(shè)定是一場“齋戒”，而不是“盛宴”。在普利茅斯的殖民者們一開始對感恩的理解是祈禱、并克制對食物的需求。而后來Wampanoag的印第安人加入了進來開始三天的慶祝，并帶來他們豐收節(jié)的傳統(tǒng)——跳舞、游戲和盛宴。這是古代印第安人的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日Nickommoh，意味著“付出”或“交換”。

　　雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事

　　關(guān)鍵詞：name

　　Three towns have been named after the holiday's starring player — Turkey, Texas, Turkey Creek, La. and Turkey, N.C. — each with less than 500 residents. Legend has it that the pheasant's 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.

　　全美有三個不到500人的小鎮(zhèn)是由“火雞”命名的：德克薩斯的火雞鎮(zhèn);洛杉磯的火雞灣和北卡羅來納的火雞鎮(zhèn)。據(jù)傳說，探險家哥倫比亞到新大陸的時候一位自己到了印度，于是把這種鳥(就是火雞)命名為“tuka”——印度語里的孔雀。于是火雞的名字就這么延續(xù)下來了。

　　以上就是為大家整理的雅思閱讀素材：感恩節(jié)的十件事，雅思考試對于考生的要求是非常高的，想要取得好的成績就必須要做好充分的準備，多積累一些素材，才能夠在雅思考試中取得好的成績。