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A: So Rory, do you think holidays these days ... do you think they're too commercial? What do you think?

罗瑞,你有没有觉得现在的假日太商业化了?你是怎么想的?

B: I mean, they really are commercial aren't they? Christmas especially. It seems to start earlier and earlier every year, so now you hear Christmas songs like in November and maybe even in October, and the stores start to have decorations. It is too commercial? I don't know. I love Christmas, you know. So I love all the Christmas lights, but there is a lot of pressure on people to spend a lot of money at Christmas.

的确很商业化,不是吗?尤其是圣诞节。看起来圣诞节的活动开始得越来越早,现在11月甚至是10月就能听到圣诞歌曲,商店也早早就开始进行装饰。这不是太商业化了吗?我也不清楚。我很喜欢圣诞节。我喜欢所有的圣诞节彩灯,可是现在由于人们会在圣诞节花很多钱,所以他们面临着很大压力。

A: That's true. I think I am with you on that. I love Christmas. I love everything that comes with it: the songs, the food, the family time, so I can't really complain about it, but I think the year, the calendar year, has just become one big holiday thing, where you start off, you know ... I don't know, you start whenever. December Christmas finishes and we're already looking forward to Valentine's Day. Valentine Day finishes — Easter, St. Patrick's Day. So it's like one continuous holiday coming up right after the other. So ...

没错。在这点上我同意你的看法。我也喜欢圣诞节,我喜欢一切与圣诞节有关的事物:比如歌曲、美食、家庭时光,所以我不能抱怨,可是我认为日历年已经完全被节日主宰了,从一个节日开始……12月份的圣诞节刚过,我们已经开始期待情人节了。情人节之后是复活节、圣帕特里克节等等。一个节日接着一个节日。

B: And things like St Patrick's Day — when I was a kid — my family's Irish. We never celebrated St. Patrick's Day at all. I mean nothing. Didn't even talk about it. But now, all the pubs, and the bars, have promotions. The restaurants have promotions. You can buy green beer. People are wearing funny hats. It seems to me like completely a commercial holiday.

像圣帕特里克节这种节日,我家是爱尔兰家庭,在我小时候我们从来不庆祝圣帕特里克节。那一天我们不会庆祝,也不会谈论这个节日。可是现在,所有酒馆和酒吧都在这一天举行促销活动。餐厅也有优惠活动。在这个节日,你可以买到绿色的啤酒,而且人们会戴着搞笑的帽子。对我来说那完全就是个商业节日。

A: That's true.

没错。

B: It doesn't seem to be related to St Patrick at all.

看起来完全和圣帕特里克没有一点关系。

A: That's true. That's true. Why do you think it's becoming more and more like that?

是的,没错。你认为为什么会演变成这样?

B: I guess just that companies see it — the way to sell more products.

我想是因为各家公司看到了可以出售更多商品的商机。