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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Americans Reflect on Thanksgiving Blessings2
Thursday, Nov. 24, is Thanksgiving Day in America, a day set aside both for good eating and for gratitude3.
On an unseasonably warm day in New York’s Foley Square, Mone and her two young daughters, Jasiyah and Damayah, are busy preparing for the holiday.
"This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for having my own Thanksgiving, my first family dinner that I am cooking - and that my mom isn’t cooking at all,” says Mone, who admits to being a bit nervous. “I hope I don’t burn anything or overheat anything, that it all comes out good.”
Mone teaches her two daughters to be appreciative4 of what they have.
“I’m grateful for God for making the world, that I am alive," says Damayah, "for the food I have, for the clothes I have on my body, for the place I stay in, and for my mom.”
At the city clerk’s office down the street, Paulina and Parker are obtaining a license5 so they can get married over the holiday weekend. They are thankful for true love and more.
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| Mone and her daughters are grateful for family and all the trimmings of a happy life. |
“Everything is going to be peachy,” the red-headed bride says with a grin. "I am grateful for this guy.”
Her groom6 takes a more cosmic approach. “I am grateful for the fact that the sun shines and the sky is blue and the earth is at the specific point where it needs to be to sustain life, and the solar system and the galaxy," he says. "Of all the epochs to be born, I am here right now with this beautiful woman, exactly where I am supposed to be.”
Nearby, a man named Vincent, who says he is homeless, is not where he’s supposed to be.
"I was evicted7 four weeks ago, I feel, illegally. Nevertheless, even though there are many, many devils out to put you down and thwart8 you, there are equally as many angels willing to help you.”
The angels Vincent refers to are people like the bus drivers who let him board free of charge or at half price, or those who come up to him offering free food. “I will be eternally grateful for that,” he says. “I’ve been able to persevere9 with the help of the human spirit.”
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| Parker and Paulina are thankful to be getting married this holiday weekend. |
Ronald - who works at a nearby homeless shelter and who was once homeless himself - is able to persevere thanks to the doctors who recently rid him of excruciating chronic10 back pain. “So I am grateful I came out of surgery a success.”
A few blocks away, it is simple youthful freedom that a bicyclist named Mike is thankful for.
“I’m just grateful that I have a job and be able to do what I do," he says. "I have a little bit of money and I do whatever the hell I want on the side.”
A woman named Charles expresses her gratitude in somewhat more religious terms.
“What am I grateful for this Thanksgiving? Life. Strength. And that God blessed me and opened my eyes,” she says. “The job that I have, that I can pay a bill and probably help someone less fortunate than me. So to me, every day is Thanksgiving.”
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| Occupy Wall Street protesters Jason and Oksana are grateful for community and the chance to dream. |
Like hundreds of other Occupy Wall Street protesters, Jason and Oksana have been ejected from Zucotti Park. Yet both still managed to carry a sense of blessing1 with them. Jason says he is grateful for dreams, and the chance to follow them.
His girlfriend is more effusive11. “This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my boyfriend, my dogs, sleeping bags that we managed to somehow salvage12. There are lots of good people in the community.”
A fellow activist13 named Brandon, still sodden14 from the previous night’s rain, is thankful for the right to speak out under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment15 rights.
“Sometimes they get respected. Sometimes they get disrespected some," Brandon says. "But I am just grateful we live in a country where, when things do go wrong, we can stand up and we can say, ‘Hey, this is wrong and it needs to be changed.’”
A downtown resident named Barbara has not participated in the protests, yet she appreciates the idealistic spirit that underlies16 them.
“I am extraordinarily17 grateful that people have been willing to give up their time and make such a commitment to staying outside in the cold and the rain and to try to bring about social justice. I am very grateful for their commitment on Thanksgiving.”
Some thoughts to chew on along with all the roast turkey and the trimmings this Thanksgiving Day.
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1
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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4
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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evicted
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| v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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persevere
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| v.坚持，坚忍，不屈不挠 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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effusive
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| adj.热情洋溢的；感情(过多)流露的 | |
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salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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activist
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| n.活动分子，积极分子 | |
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sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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underlies
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| v.位于或存在于（某物）之下( underlie的第三人称单数 )；构成…的基础（或起因），引起 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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