What British People Do on the Fourth of July

Colin Stokes

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每年的7月4日是美国独立日，是一个纪念美国自大不列颠王国宣告独立的日子。在7月4日这一天，美国会举办许多活动，其中最重要的一项就是敲响位于费城的自由钟。在各地也会举办各种庆祝活动，如放烟火、花车游行、烧烤、野餐、举办音乐会、棒球赛以及家庭聚会等。而英国人在这一天会干些什么呢？

1. All British expats bring a jug of water from Boston Harbor on the flight home1. expat: 移居国外者，侨民；jug: 一大罐（壶）的容量；Boston Harbor: 波士顿港，位于美国波士顿。

Although it means an extra layover in Boston, this traditional practice has helped the British tea industry recover gradually since the disastrous Tea Party incident, in 1773.2. 虽然这意味着要在波士顿中转一下，但这种传统做法已经帮助英国茶业从1773年灾难性的波士顿倾茶事件中慢慢地恢复了。layover: 中途（临时）停留；Tea Party incident: 波士顿倾茶事件，是发生在1773年12月16日的政治示威。因北美殖民地人民不满英国的统治，当地居民化妆成印第安人潜入商船，把船上价值约1.5万英镑的342箱茶叶全部倒入大海，以此对抗英国国会，最终引发美国独立战争。The water is filtered for the remains of the destroyed tea cargo and served at Buckingham Palace on the Fourth.3. filter: 过滤；remains: 残余（物），剩余（物）；cargo: （轮船、飞机所装载的）货物；Buckingham Palace: 白金汉宫（英国王宫）。

2. Cricket4. cricket: 板球（运动）。 matches in the park

While many Americans gather with their families,perhaps enjoying a friendly game of “toss the pigskin” or a round of wif fle ball,5. toss: 扔，抛，掷；pigskin: 〈美俚〉橄榄球；wif fle ball: 威浮球，此球类运动规则与传统棒球相似，球上有各种孔洞，可以借助空气摩擦的力量，在飞行过程中做出各种曲线变化。British people meet with strangers in a large park and hit a hard ball at each other. This symbolizes a rejection of the family cheer that is practiced across America on the Fourth of July.6. symbolize: 象征；rejection: 拒绝，不接受。The red ball, white uniform and blue bruises serve as a mixed visual code of patriotism (red,white, and blue in the Union Jack) as well as an acknowledgement of failure (red,white, and blue in the American flag).7. 红球、白衣和淤青既是爱国主义的外在表现（正如英国国旗中的红、白、蓝），也是对过去失败的承认（正如美国国旗中的红、白、蓝）。bruise: 淤青；visual: 视觉的，可见的；code: 信号，标记；patriotism: 爱国主义；the Union Jack: 英国国旗。

3. Reverse fireworks8. reverse: 相反的，颠倒的； firework: 焰火，烟花。

Crowds of people dress in red coats and gather under large scaffolds, which are extensively rigged with explosive fireworks.9. 成群的人们穿着红色外套，聚集在巨大的绞刑架下面，这些绞刑架是临时用大量易爆炸的烟花搭成的。scaffold:绞刑架；rig: 用临时替代材料迅速搭起；explosive: 爆炸性的，易爆炸的。At an agreed-upon time across the country, the fuses are lit and the fireworks shoot downward, into the throng that has gathered underneath.10. fuse: 保险丝，导火线；lit: 点火，light的过去分词；throng:人群；underneath: 在下面。This serves to remind the British people of the pain and suffering that came from the defeat endured by the King’s Army, and to prepare younger generations of English men for the eventuality of a second battle in which the Crown retakes what is rightfully British land.11. endure: 忍耐，容忍；eventuality: 可能发生的事情（尤指坏事情），不测事件；the Crown: 王室；retake: 收复，夺回（战争中的失地）；rightfully: 正当地。

4. Dental-hygiene-product bon fire12. dental-hygiene: 口腔卫生；bon fire: 篝火。

After the reverse fireworks, those who are not substantially injured build an enormous bon fire of toothbrushes, mouth wash, and dental floss, and children wear large fake teeth made of plastic.13. substantially: 非常地，巨大地；mouth wash: 漱口水；dental floss: 牙线；fake: 假的。This tradition serves to embrace the American stereotype that British people have bad teeth, and to ridicule the ideal of complete, blanched uniformity in the American mouth.14. 这个传统既是接受了美国人认为英国人牙齿都不好的这一成见，也嘲笑了美国人牙齿整齐洁白的完美典范。serve to: 用来，有助于；embrace: （欣然）接受；stereotype: 成见，刻板印象；ridicule: 嘲笑，嘲弄；blanched: 使变白的；uniformity: 统一（性），一致（性）。

5. B.B.B.Q. (British BBQ)

After the communal portion of the celebration is finished,15. communal: 群体的，集体的；portion: 部分。British people return to their homes to eat. A charcoal grill,much like the one used in the American B.B.Q., is set up,and various English dishes, like bangers and mash, fish and chips, bubble and squeak, and spotted dick, are set on the grate.16. charcoal: 木炭；grill: 烤架；set up: 建立，准备；bangers and mash: 香肠薯泥；bubble and squeak: 卷心菜煎土豆；spotted dick: 葡萄干布丁；grate: 炉栅，炉格。No British dish that has the word “and” in its name or that sounds like an egregious17. egregious: 极坏的。disease is left off the grill.Eventually, all the food drips into the charcoal bed, and it is then scooped onto serving platters and eaten.18. drip: 滴下；bed: 层；scoop: （用勺子等）舀，盛；platter:大浅盘。After this,there is a sustained19. sustained: 持久的，持续的。period in which people regret having participated in the dental-hygiene-product bon fire.ELL