據美聯社11月29日報道，為響應感恩節過后的“星期六小商家日”，美國總統奧巴馬當天帶著兩個女兒瑪麗亞和薩莎光顧了華盛頓一家知名獨立書店，并購買了17本書，其中一本書還與中國有關。

近年來，感恩節后的星期六已被包裝成“星期六小商家日”，旨在鼓勵消費者把自己的假期購物消費放在獨立小商家身上。該消費日設在大型零售商的“黑色星期五”和在線零售商的“網購星期一”之間。

在17本書中，成年人讀物有《紐約客》雜志前駐華記者歐逸文的《野心時代:在新中國追逐財富、真相和信念》，外科醫生阿圖?葛文德的《致命》，以及美國作家安東尼?多爾的《所有我們不能看見的光》。年輕人的讀物包括3本布里安?雅克的“紅城”系列，2本芭芭拉?帕克的朱尼?瓊斯系列，以及朵琳?克羅寧的《瘋狂農莊收藏》。

President Barack Obama tried to draw attention to independently owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a day that is increasingly being marketed as one for deal-hungry consumers to remember to patronize these mom-and-pop outlets while doing their holiday shopping.

He bought bags of books — 17 titles in all — during a stop at Politics and Prose, a popular Washington bookstore now owned by a former Washington Post reporter and his wife, also a former Post reporter who also worked for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House and State Department.

In recent years, the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been advertised as "Small Business Saturday." It's designed to drive foot traffic to independent businesses in between the frenzy of Black Friday sales at mass retailers and the Cyber Monday deals available online.

Obama browsed the bookstore's racks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha. He held one shopper's baby and chatted with author David Baldacci. While paying at the cash register, another patron encouraged Obama to close the U.S. facility in Cuba where suspected terrorists are detained.

"Hope you can close Guantanamo," the patron said.

"We're working on it," Obama replied, then cheerily added to the crowd of shoppers: "Any other issues?"

Obama also joked, "Hope it works," when he handed his credit card to the cashier. That appeared to be a reference to when a restaurant declined his card while he dined out in New York City in late September.

Obama bought a mix of titles apparently chosen to satisfy readers young and old. The White House declined to reveal how much he paid.

Among the books in the president's shopping bags for mature readers were "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China" by New Yorker writer Evan Osnos, "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by surgeon Atul Gawande and "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.

For younger readers, Obama's purchases included three titles in the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques, two titles in the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and "A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More" by Doreen Cronin.

Obama and his daughters also shopped at Politics and Prose on the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year.

（來源：AP 編輯：祝興媛）