考研英語時文賞讀：變了味的母親節還會讓人感到溫馨嗎？

考研英語來源：同源外刊 2019-05-19　

Mother’s Day means big business for retailers. This year is no different -- shoppers will spend an average of $196 per mom. If you hate all of the commercialization behind the day that celebrates moms, imagine how Anna Jarvis would feel now.

對零售商來說，母親節意味著巨大的商機。今年也不例外——據統計每位媽媽平均消費了196美元。如果你討厭母親節背后的商業化，想象一下安娜·賈維斯現在的感受。

The holiday’s founder worked so hard to get the world to give moms everywhere a shoutout. But before her death, even she had to admit she had some regrets about starting Mother’s Day. If she were alive now, she’d probably be living her worst nightmare. She just wanted to honor her mom.

這個節日的創始人曾努力地讓世界給全球各地的媽媽足夠的關愛。但直到她去世之前，就連她自己也不得不承認，她有些后悔母親節的出現。如果她現在還活著，她可能正在經歷她最可怕的噩夢。設立母親節的初衷只是想向自己的媽媽致敬。

Long before her death, Jarvis’ mom Ann Reeves Jarvis hoped someone would dedicate a day to honor mothers. When she died on May 9, 1905, Jarvis set out to do just that. She began campaigning not only for her mom but for moms everywhere.

賈維斯的母親安·里維斯·賈維斯在去世前的很長一段時間內就希望有人能抽出一天的時間來紀念自己的母親。1905年5月9日，賈維斯母親去世，賈維斯開始按照母親生前的意愿過母親節，同時她也開始呼吁世界各地過母親節。

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Jarvis’ Mother’s Day as a national holiday. Jarvis couldn’t stand the idea of people spending so much money on extravagant flower arrangements, sappy greeting cards and overly priced chocolates.

1914年，伍德羅·威爾遜總統簽署了一項法案，承認賈維斯的母親節為全國性節日。但是賈維斯無法忍受人們在母親節那天花那么多錢買奢侈的鮮花、多愁善感的賀卡和昂貴的巧克力。

First, she went after florists, protesting their marketing of those beautiful and ornate carnations. Then, her protests escalated to arrests for public disturbances.

首先，她去找花商，抗議他們推銷那些美麗且華麗的康乃馨。隨后，她因抗議升級擾亂公共秩序而被捕。

Jarvis didn’t stop there. She went after first lady Eleanor Roosevelt for using Mother’s Day as a way to promote the health and welfare of women and children. While it was true that Jarvis’ mother was a community health advocate, Jarvis still didn’t like the association. Jarvis died in a sanitarium in 1948. The holiday she created lives on.

賈維斯并沒有就此打住。她指責第一夫人埃莉諾·羅斯福利用母親節作為促進婦女和兒童健康福利的途徑。雖然賈維斯的母親確實是社區健康倡導者，但賈維斯仍然不喜歡這個協會。賈維斯于1948年死于療養院，但是她創造的節日延續至今。

Today, more people purchase flowers and plants for Mother’s Day than for any other holiday except Christmas/Hanukkah. This year alone, Americans will spend $25 billion on the holiday. And most of that money will be spent on jewelry: $5.2 billion.

如今，除了圣誕節和光明節，母親節這天購買鮮花和植物的人比其他任何節日都要多。僅今年一年，美國人就將在這個節日上花費250億美元。其中52億美元用于珠寶購買。

(全文共298個詞，CNN)

►重難點詞匯：

retailer n. 零售商;傳播的人

extravagant adj. 奢侈的;浪費的;過度的;放縱的

sappy adj. 精力充沛的;樹液多的;愚笨的

ornate adj. 華麗的;裝飾的;(文體)絢麗的

carnation n. [園藝] 康乃馨;肉色;粉紅色 adj. 肉紅色的

escalate v. 逐步增強;使……加劇;升級，惡化;升高，增加;迅速增加，迅速增長

disturbance n. 干擾;騷亂;憂慮

sanitarium n. 療養院;療養所