Notes:
Black Friday 魔[不吉な]の金曜日;
loss leaders 目玉商品[特売品]

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There’s a saying, “Christmas comes but once a year,” but when does the season start? In some American stores, the first few Christmas things are being sold as early as July, although most stores don’t start selling Christmas things until after Halloween. The day after Thanksgiving, which is the fourth Thursday in November, is traditionally considered the first official shopping day of the Christmas season. It’s called Black Friday, and although it is not an official holiday, many companies are closed so their employees can have a four-day weekend. On this day, many stores open extremely early, sometimes even at midnight! But the stores don’t just open early; they also have huge discounts and advertise items that are “loss leaders,” things that the store loses money on because the store believes they can make more money that way. “Christmas comes but once a year,” but it might be more accurate to say, “shopping never ends.” (by Prof. Lieske Carmella)
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Notes：
emergency 緊急[非常]時 (上の文章では形容詞的に使われていることにも注意。);
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Have you ever thought about what you would do if you were in an emergency overseas? The most important thing you need to know is the emergency phone number. In some countries there are different phone numbers for police, fire and medical. In Australia the number is simply 000 and in most of Europe it is 112. In Canada the number is 911, which is the same as the American emergency phone number. Most countries do not use the same number three times because many people believe it is easy to make a mistake. Even though the emergency phone number for police in Japan is 110 and the number for medical or fire is 119, just remember that in other countries the emergency phone number is probably different. But I hope you don’t need it – travel safely! 　(by Prof. Wendy Tada)
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