[ti:Coronavirus Crisis Pushes Start of Holiday Shopping Earlier]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]The world has changed in many ways since the coronavirus pandemic struck.
[00:08.92]Now, you can add end-of-the-year holiday shopping
[00:14.04]to the list of time-honored traditions being affected.
[00:20.24]Many retail businesses are launching the holiday shopping season
[00:25.36]earlier than ever this year.
[00:28.64]They hope to keep large crowds out of stores
[00:33.40]and avoid problems when shipping products in November and December.
[00:41.00]American retail stores like Best Buy, Macy's, and Target
[00:46.96]often offer their biggest deals on "Black Friday."
[00:51.84]That is the day after the American observance of Thanksgiving in late November.
[00:59.88]Now, retailers are planning to start offering deals this month.
[01:07.36]With more people expected to buy products online,
[01:12.20]retailers are trying to avoid getting a lot of orders in mid-December just before Christmas.
[01:21.88]That could lead to late gift arrivals and higher shipping costs.
[01:28.00]Many stores could not keep up with demand
[01:32.00]when Americans were locked down in their homes during the early days of the pandemic.
[01:40.00]Online retailer Amazon had to add 175,000 workers
[01:47.64]to meet demand for products on its website.
[01:52.88]Black Friday has long been the unofficial start to the holiday season in the United States.
[02:01.16]However, retailers have been trying to get Americans
[02:05.96]to start holiday shopping earlier for the past 10 years or so.
[02:12.96]This year, there seems to be a more reason urgent to start early.
[02:19.04]With the coronavirus still spreading across the country,
[02:23.76]stores have had to rethink their usual holiday plans.
[02:28.76]Thanksgiving Day specials are canceled.
[02:33.56]There will still be in-store sales the day after Thanksgiving,
[02:39.00]but companies are expected to direct shoppers to go online
[02:44.56]to avoid crowds and other problems.
[02:49.32]"We're preparing for a holiday season unlike any we've seen before,"
[02:55.32]said Target's chief Brian Cornell.
[03:00.64]Many people are out of work, and even more people
[03:04.76]are unsure about their economic futures.
[03:08.36]This probably will not be a great year for holiday shopping.
[03:13.84]Most people will probably buy fewer things
[03:18.44]because they will not be traveling to family gatherings.
[03:22.84]Shoppers will also be looking at gifts related to activities around the home,
[03:30.32]such as physical workout gear and gaming systems.
[03:35.80]"Shoppers are going to be very selective in what they buy," said Ken Perkins.
[03:42.92]He is president of Retail Metrics, a retail research company.
[03:49.64]He added that retail stores "are fighting for their lives."
[03:55.96]The first big holiday push will come from Amazon.
[04:00.64]The company has announced that its well-known yearly sale,
[04:05.64]called Prime Day, will be in October.
[04:10.12]This is the first time Amazon has held Prime Day so near the holidays.
[04:17.12]It is usually held in July, but was postponed this year.
[04:23.72]The move will force other businesses to offer sales around the same time, too.
[04:30.56]Target and Walmart have already said they will hold their own sales
[04:35.92]during the same time as Amazon's.
[04:39.68]Electronics retailer Best Buy will offer deals in October, earlier than it ever has.
[04:48.60]Even with the early start to the season, no one knows if people will shop
[04:54.72]or hold onto their money.
[04:57.76]Joel Bines, an expert on retail sales at AlixPartners,
[05:04.12]thinks the idea of earlier shopping will continue,
[05:08.72]even when the pandemic finally ends.
[05:12.60]"This is here to stay," Bines said.
[05:16.56]"The new holiday season is October through January."
[05:22.24]There are already signs of early shopping.
[05:26.20]Kohl's said shoppers have started searching
[05:29.44]for traditional Christmas gifts on its website.
[05:34.60]Retailers are making plans for people who do not want to go to the store at all.
[05:42.28]Expecting to sell more of its jewelry online,
[05:46.92]the Signet Jewelers changed its Ohio storage center
[05:52.36]so it can ship five times as many packages as last year.
[05:58.64]The company owns several retail jewelry stores.
[06:04.08]Shipping company DHL is telling retailers to avoid holding big sales in December
[06:11.52]because delivery could be delayed, said Kraig Foreman.
[06:16.28]He is the company's president of e-commerce in North America.
[06:22.88]Some retail businesses are already reporting shipping delays, such as Balsam Hill.
[06:31.08]It sells high-end Christmas trees online.
[06:35.40]Balsam Hill's chief Mac Harmon is warning shoppers that shipping
[06:42.08]could take more than the usual three to four days.
[06:47.04]″I don't want to let customers down
[06:49.96]in a year where we need more joy than ever," he said.
[06:55.28]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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