大学英语四级阅读的200篇: Unit 38 passage 1_大学英语阅读

大学英语四级阅读的200篇: Unit 38 passage 1

　　On the whole, it was a wonderful holiday for the Pilgrims after their winter of starvation and tragedy. However, they paid for this luxury during the following winter. There was very little food for anyone. They did not have a Thanksgiving feast the next fall. The harvest was too small for that. But, in spite of everything, they never had any regrets about their first holiday.

　　In the following decades, Thanksgiving Days were frequently held, sometimes twice a year, sometimes every other year, depending on the circumstances. Thanksgiving lost some of its New England character during the Revolutionary War. The continental Congress recommended eight days of Thanksgiving for the Continental Army on Thursday, December 18, 1777 and again at Valley Forge on May 7,1778. Washington became the first President of the United States in April 1789. Just before the adjournment of Congress in September that year, President Washington issued a proclamation for a Thanksgiving Day on November 26. He announced a second Thanksgiving Day six years later. After that, there were no Thanksgiving Days until 1812. President James Madison announced a Thanksgiving Day at the end of the War of 1812.

　　The history of Thanksgiving as a national holiday is largely the responsibility of Mrs. Sarah J. Hale. Mrs. Hale moved from Boston to Philadelphia in 1830. Then she realized for the first time that Thanksgiving was not celebrated at all in many states. In agreement with Mrs. Hale to her constant suggestions, President Abraham Lincoln announced the first national Thanksgiving Day proclamation on October 3, 1863. At that time, the country was in the middle of bitter civil war. Lincoln appointed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. Each president, since Abraham Lincoln, has proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day for the nation as a whole.