黑色星期五購物者擠滿了商店

The U.S. holiday shopping season has officially begun, with shoppers crowding stores for post-Thanksgiving sales in a yearly event nicknamed "Black Friday."The competition for the best deals took an aggressive turn Thursday night, when a woman at a Walmart in Los Angeles used pepper spray on other customers to gain an advantage.

Black Friday is the day many stores sharply discount high-priced items such as electronics and the latest new toys. Its name signifies retailers' expectations of high sales, as profits were once recorded in account books in black ink, while losses were recorded in red. Stores also open their doors hours earlier than usual, which helps foster excitement among bargain k Friday is one of the most important days for retail chains because it indicates what they can expect during the next month of holiday shopping -- their most lucrative time of not everyone is in favor of the phenomenon. Protesters with the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street movement were encouraging people to take part in "Buy Nothing Day," a day of protest against consumerism observed worldwide.美國的假日銷售季節正式拉開了序幕。購物者在一年一度被戲稱爲“黑色星期五”的這一天擠滿了商店，進行感恩節後的購物。消費者搶購促銷商品的活動星期四晚間出現一些粗暴行爲。一名婦女在洛杉磯一家沃爾瑪商店爲搶先而對其他消費者噴灑胡椒水。

在“黑色星期五”這天，很多商店都會提供大幅度的降價優惠，特別是價格昂貴的電子產品和最新上市的玩具。“黑色星期五”這個名字還表達了零售商對贏利所寄予的厚望，因爲商家以往在帳目中以黑色墨水來記錄贏利，虧損則以紅色數字記帳。另外，一些商店還比平常要早幾個小時開門迎客。這些都讓希望買到便宜物品的消費者興奮。“黑色星期五”對大型零售連鎖企業來說是最重要的日子，因爲這一天預示他們在未來一個月的假日銷售情況，而假日期間通常是一年中最贏利的時候。但是，不是所有的人都喜歡這樣的現象。“佔領華爾街運動”的反資本主義抗議者鼓勵大家參加“零購買日”，來抗議全世界範圍的消費主義。