英语单词大师：Happy Holidays

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the paradox¹ of a social greeting designed not to offend anyone that, by its very design, offends some people.

RS: Next Sunday, most Americans will celebrate Christmas. This year, by coincidence, Sunday is also the first night of Hanukkah, a minor² festival in Judaism. And the next day is the start of Kwanzaa, a seasonal³ African-American celebration.

AA: As America has grown more diverse -- in fact, experts see more Muslims than Jews in its future -- the traditional greeting "Merry Christmas" is often replaced with "Happy Holidays." Many "Christmas trees" are now "holiday trees." The reasoning goes that "Happy Holidays" is all-inclusive: it can also include the New Year.

RS: But what some people see as cultural sensitivity looks to others like nothing more than political correctness gone wild.

The Global Language Monitor is a California company that tracks the use of language on the Internet and in the media. Its president, Paul J.J. Payack, says his small staff has been following the debate over "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays" all the way to Washington.

PAUL PAYACK: "The main thing in the capital is Bush's Christmas cards, OK? He sent out his Christmas cards and they say "Happy Holidays" all over them. And people are offended because they think it's giving in to political correctness. On the other hand, he's always said 'Happy Holidays' on his Christmas cards.

"And if you go back through the history of presidential Christmas cards, [which] really started with John Kennedy -- John Kennedy actually only sent out a few thousand, and he had his staff demarcate between those who celebrate Christmas and those that celebrate Hanukkah. Now the president sends out 1.4 million cards! [laughter]"RS: "So what's the deal here?"PAUL PAYACK: "What we're finding is that there's, it's kind of like there's a backlash where people are trying to say 'Merry Christmas' where they normally might say 'Happy Holidays,' because they see it as what's called the 'war against Christmas,' as some of the commentators⁴ are calling it. And there's not really a war against Christmas, but it's the idea that many major companies just take the name Christmas out of everything.

"OK, in Boston, this was an interesting one, that a farmer, a tree farmer in Nova Scotia, donated this large, magnificent tree as the Christmas tree for the Boston Common. So the mayor sends out something that says, we're going to have a holiday tree-lighting ceremony. Well, people went berserk, and the fellow that donated the tree said, I want it back if it's not a Christmas tree. It's not a holiday tree, it's a Christmas tree."AA: "So what happened?"PAUL PAYACK: "Well, they changed it back to Christmas tree."AA: Which probably made our next guest happy. Joseph Farah hosts a radio talk show and is editor of WorldNetDaily.com. For the past few years he's gotten Christmas cards from the president. We asked him his reaction to this year's greeting.

JOSEPH FARAH: "Well, it looked like the cards from the previous three years that I saw. It was a 'Happy Holidays' message, and I opened it, looked at it briefly⁵ for about five seconds, and put it in the garbage."AA: "Because it didn't use the word Christmas."JOSEPH FARAH: "Yep. I know a lot of people say -- why would, I mean he's wishing you a happy holiday, what's wrong with that? And what's wrong with it is, that 96 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas in this country. Ninety-six percent -- you don't get that kind of unanimity⁶ on very many issues. But yet for some reason we want to pretend that Christmas is equal to Kwanzaa, Christmas is equal to Hanukkah.

"I don't know any Jews who think, by the way, that Hanukkah has the same kind of importance in their life that the birth of Jesus has to Christians⁷. And so it's not equal. But yet there's this determined⁸ effort by our culture -- and evidently some of our political leaders -- to, eh, make it all one big, happy picture.

"And, by the way, I would also point out that the president has been outspoken⁹ in courting Muslims in recent years, holding Ramadan dinners in the White House, and he doesn't say 'Happy Holidays' to those folks. He talks about Ramadan, what it means, in very specific terms."RS: Joseph Farah makes his opnions known through radio, print and the Web site WorldNetDaily.com. And that's Wordmaster for this week.

AA: Our e-mail address is [email protected]. And our reports are online at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

2 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

3 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

4 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 unanimity   

n.全体一致，一致同意

参考例句：

• These discussions have led to a remarkable unanimity.这些讨论导致引人注目的一致意见。
• There is no unanimity of opinion as to the best one.没有一个公认的最好意见。

7 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。