美國跨年兩件事：紐約看球和立FLAG

05-06

歲末辭舊迎新，米國群眾除了向親友互祝Happy New Year和購物之外，還有那些有意思的事情呢？朋友，你聽說過安利，啊不是，New Year Resolution和the Ball Drop嗎？

The Ball Drop 新年降球

The ball drop在美國各地都有，但最有名的還是紐約時代廣場的跨年活動之一，即watching

the ball drop in Times Square觀看時代廣場的水晶球降落。這項活動始於1907年跨年，由《紐約時報》的老闆Adolph

Ochs組織，現在由Times

Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment公司承辦。

時代廣場球Times Square Ball坐落於紐約時代廣場的屋頂，是時代廣場除夕慶典的重要組成部分，通常被稱為the ball drop（這個貌似還沒有官方名稱）。和倒計時Countdown一起，在紐約所在時區的東部時間午夜11:59:00開始，由特邀嘉賓按下按鈕，球沿著特別設計的旗杆，在60秒內緩緩下降141英尺（43米），並在12點整降落到底，倒計時隨之結束。標誌著新年的開始。近年來，慶祝活動之前有現場音樂表演等等眾多活動和現場直逼，相比之前坐在家裡看電視，聚集在廣場上集體跨年成為年輕人的流行。

從網上找了視頻，大家可以看看2016年跨年倒計時和新年降球的模樣。Times Square ball drop celebrates New Years 2016 http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQzMjAzNjEzNg==.html?from=y1.2-1-86.4.1-1.1-1-2-0-0%26source%3Dautoclick

New Year Resolution 新年決心

可能有人和我一樣，是從新概念3中知道「新年決心」這個詞。在這一課中，作者描述可以說很扎心了：The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of dos and donts. The same old favorites recur year in year out with monotonous

regularity. 新年是下決心的時候，至少在大多數人的心裡會編排出一份「應做什麼」和「不應做什麼」的令人生畏的單子。相同的決心以單調的規律年復一年地出現。

Resolution 是一個名詞，查查搭配詞典，意思是堅定地決定做或不做某事，常用firm、good修飾或者與make 或keep搭配。因此New Year Resolution可以理解成為下定決心在未來一年要完成的計劃清單，通常在一年年初完成。

4 firm decision to do/not to do sth

ADJ. firm, good | New Year/New Years

VERB + RESOLUTION make I made a New

Year resolution to give up smoking. | keep

那麼人們一般都會制定哪些計劃呢？總結起來，大約包括注重健康、財務自由、自我提升和享受生活是四大主題，看來不論國籍和生活環境，世界人民都很一致呀：

Improve physical well-being: eat healthy food, lose
weight, exercise more, eat better, drink less alcohol, quit smoking, stop
biting nails, get rid of old bad habits
Improve mental well-being: think positive, laugh more
often, enjoy life
Improve finances: get out of debt, save money, make
small investments
Improve career: perform better at current job, get a
better job, establish own business
改善身體健康：吃健康食物，減肥，多運動，多吃，少喝酒，戒煙，停止咬指甲，擺脫舊的不良習慣
提高心理健康：積極思考，多笑，享受生活
改善財務狀況：擺脫債務，省錢，做小額投資
改善職業：在現有工作中表現更好，找到更好的工作，創業
Improve education: improve grades, get a better
education, learn something new (such as a foreign language or music), study

often, read more books, improve talents
Improve self: become more organized, reduce stress, be
less grumpy, manage time, be more independent, perhaps watch less television,
play fewer sitting-down video games
Take a trip
Volunteer to help others, practice life skills, use
civic virtue, give to charity, volunteer to work part-time in a charity
organization
改善教育：提高成績，獲得更好的教育，學習新的東西（如外語或音樂），經常學習，閱讀更多的書籍，變更有才
改善自我：變得更有組織，減少壓力，減少脾氣，管理時間，更獨立，也許看電視更少，玩更少的坐下視頻遊戲
旅行
自願幫助他人，實踐生活技能，踐行公民美德，捐助慈善機構，在慈善組織幫忙
Get along better with people, improve social skills,
enhance social intelligence
Make new friends
Spend quality time with family members
Settle down, get engaged/get married, have kids
Pray more, be more spiritual
Be more involved in sports or different activities
Spend less time on social media (such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr etc.)
與人相處融洽，提高社交能力，增強社交能力
結交新朋友
與家人共度美好時光
安頓下來，訂婚/結婚，有孩子
多多禱告，多注重精神
更多地參與運動或參與不同的活動
在社交媒體（如Facebook，Instagram，Twitter，Tumblr等）上花更少的時間。

然而，在拖延症成為流行疾病的當今，新年決心的完成情況如何呢？2007年，一項有3000人參與的研究顯示，有88％制定了新年決心的人未能完成（failing their New Years Resolutions）。最常見原因是為自己設定了不切實際的目標（35％），而33％的人沒有跟蹤他們的進步，還有23％的人忘記了，約10%參與者聲稱他們提出了太多的決議。

看來今年下決心的時候，還是悠著點來，免得立的FLAG在年底被狠狠打臉……

附：Resolution

1 formal decision taken after a vote

ADJ. draft |

VERB

+ RESOLUTION draft
| propose, put forward, table | vote on | adopt, agree, approve, carry, pass The
resolution was carried unanimously. |

block, reject

RESOLUTION

+ VERB be
aimed at sth, call for sth The
resolution called for the resumption of negotiations. | declare
sth, proclaim sth a
resolution declaring independence |
approve sth, authorize sth The
assembly adopted a resolution approving the scheme. | condemn sth a resolution
condemning the invasion

PREP. under (a/the)

~ weapons
banned under Resolution 687 |
~ on The
General Assembly rejected the resolution on the subject of arms control. > Special

page at MEETING

2 settling a dispute

ADJ. early, quick,

rapid | final, ultimate | peaceful Hopes
of a peaceful resolution to the conflict were fading. |

satisfactory, successful | conflict, dispute methods

of conflict resolution

VERB

+ RESOLUTION require
| press for The
government is pressing for an early resolution of the hostage crisis. | achieve,
reach

PREP. ~ to the

likelihood of achieving a satisfactory resolution to the problem

3 being firm and determined

ADJ. great

VERB

+ RESOLUTION have
| show She
showed great resolution in her dealings with management. | lack

4 firm decision to do/not to do sth

ADJ. firm, good |

New Year/New Years

VERB

+ RESOLUTION make I made a New

Year resolution to give up smoking. |

keep

5 power to give a clear image

ADJ. high high-resolution graphics | low | maximum | screen | pixel a monitor capable of a 1,024 by 768 pixel resolution