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Happy Hour
"幸福時光"
Tracing back to its source, the term "happy hour" originated in the United States Navy. In the 1920s, it was slang for a scheduled entertainment period on board a ship during which boxing and wrestling took place. "Happy" in that context meant slightly drunk, and it was an opportunity for sailors to let off the steam accumulated during the long time at sea.
追根溯源，"幸福時光"源于20世紀20年代的美國海軍。當時，這個俚語被用來指包括摔跤等活動在內的娛樂時段。在那種情形下，"快樂"是"微醉"的意思。"幸福時光"為長期在海上的海員們提供了釋放精力的機會。
The use of the term was curtailed with the ratification of the 18th Amendment in October 1919 and the Volstead Act in 1920，when the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages were prohibited in America. This is simply known as the Prohibition era. Although its original intention is to maintain the purity of the society as well as to reduce the potential criminal affairs after drinking, the effects of Prohibition were largely unanticipated. Production, importation, and distribution of alcoholic beverages - once a legitimate business - were taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, including mass murder, which can be seen in many movies.
隨著1919年10月《憲法第18號修正案》和1920年《沃爾斯特法令》的獲批，"幸福時光"的說法越來越少用。這個時期被叫做"禁酒時期"：禁止在美國領土內釀造、出售、運送以及進出口作為飲料的致醉酒類。盡管禁酒令的初衷是為了維護社會的穩定，減少醉酒后可能出現的犯罪事件，其結果卻是始料未及的：致醉酒類的生產、 進口、及分銷本來是合法生意，那時卻被犯罪團伙取而代之。他們為了獲得市場的控制權你爭我奪，采取暴力對抗，甚至大規模的暗殺行動。許多電影中都可以見到這樣的鏡頭。
At the same time, alcohol gained increasing social acceptance. Citizens would host "cocktail hours"，also known as "happy hours" at a speakeasy before eating at restaurants where alcohol could not be served. By 1933，public opposition to prohibition had become overwhelming. Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment to repeal Prohibition in February and on December 5, 1933, when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the Amendment, the Volstead Act became unconstitutional.
與此同時，酒精飲料也越來越被大眾所接受。市民們在去禁止售酒的飯館吃飯之前，都會先去非法酒吧度過一段"雞尾酒時間"，抑或叫做"快樂的時光"。到了 1933年，公眾的反禁酒運動已然勢不可擋。2月，國會通過《憲法第21號修正案》，以廢除禁酒令；12 月5日，隨著猶他州作為第36個州簽署此項法案，美國的全國性禁酒便壽終正寢了。
