Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.
Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4,1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.
The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a threeday feast(盛宴). The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.
In time, other colonies(殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed(宣布) the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian Thanksgiving Day falls on the second Monday in October.
【解题导语】 本文主要介绍了感恩节的来历以及人们庆祝此节日的不同方式。
1.Thanksgiving Day is celebrated________.
A.in spring B.in summer
C.in autumn D.in winter
C 解析:细节理解题。根据第二段第二句话“This is why it is celebrated in late fall...”中的late fall意思是“晚秋”,可知答案应选C项。
2.The first to celebrate thanksgiving were________.
A.some people from England
B.the American Indians
C.Sarah Josepha Hale
D.Governor Bradford
A 解析:细节理解题。第二段后半部分讲述了来自英国的清教徒移民举办感恩节是为了感谢上帝使他们平安横渡大西洋到美洲。
3.We can infer from the passage that New England must be ________.
A.in the U.S.A.
B.in Great Britain
C.in Canada
D.on some island off the Atlantic
A 解析:推理判断题。由第二段的one of the first thanksgivings in America和第三段前两句可知New England和Massachusetts是美国的两个州。