湖北武漢 張榕芳 選譯

圣誕來(lái)人的前世今生

湖北武漢 張榕芳 選譯

編者注：你或許看過(guò)不少圣誕老人，印象中圣誕老人白白胖胖，穿著紅色衣服，一把白色的胡子！然而圣誕老人最初并不是我們現(xiàn)在看到的樣子。你知道圣誕老人是怎么“長(zhǎng)成”這樣的嗎？

Santa Claus is someone who will remain in the hearts of children forever.He is the makebelieve person who brings toys and other gifts to children at Christmas.To grown-ups，he is a special symbol of good will and selfless giving.

Santa Claus also has some other names:Saint Nicholas，St.Nick，Kris Kringle，Pelznickel.

圣誕老人還有一些其他名字：Saint Nicholas，St.Nick，Kris Kringle，Pelznickel。

Two of his names—Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas—both come from the Dutch who settled in New York long ago.

其中Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas這兩個(gè)名字均來(lái)自很久以前在紐約定居的荷蘭人。

The Dutch believed Saint Nicholas gave gifts to children.They honored this kindly saint with a yearly festival on December 6th.The English-speaking people who lived nearby greatly enjoyed Dutch festivals.And they brought the saint and the custom of giving gifts into their own celebration at Christmas time.

荷蘭人相信圣誕老人送給孩子們禮物，他們?cè)诿磕甑?2月6日紀(jì)念這位善良的圣徒。居住在周?chē)恼f(shuō)英語(yǔ)的人們十分鐘愛(ài)荷蘭人的節(jié)日。然后他們將圣徒和發(fā)禮物的傳統(tǒng)融入到他們自己的圣誕節(jié)慶祝活動(dòng)中。

The Dutch spoke the name“Saint Nicholas”very fast. And so，when the English said this word，it sounded like Santa Claus.

荷蘭人念“Saint Nicholas”這個(gè)名字說(shuō)得很快。因此，用英語(yǔ)說(shuō)這個(gè)詞的時(shí)候聽(tīng)上去像Santa Claus。

——寧夏的一名高考落榜生被哈佛大學(xué)錄取，并給予全額獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金。這位姓楊的學(xué)生花了很多精力建立一個(gè)非政府公益組織，支援西部教育。哈佛方面對(duì)此作出如是解釋。

West of New York，in Pennsylvania，many German farmers had also heard of Saint Nicholas. But they called him Pelznickel.This word came from“pelz”，meaning fur，and“nickel”for Nicholas.And so，to the Germans of Pennsylvania，Saint Nicholas or Pelznickel was a man dressed in fur who came once a year with gifts for good children.

紐約西部的賓夕法尼亞州的許多德國(guó)農(nóng)民也聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)Saint Nicholas，但是他們稱(chēng)其為Pelznickel。這個(gè)詞源自“pelz”，意為皮衣，而“nickel”是指Nicholas。所以，對(duì)賓夕法尼亞州的德國(guó)人而言，Saint Nicholas或Pelznickel是一位穿著皮衣的老人，每年來(lái)一次給表現(xiàn)好的孩子發(fā)禮物。

Soon，people began to feel that the love and kindness Pelznickel brought should be part of a celebration honoring the Christkindl，as the Germans called the Christ child.After a time，this became“Kris Kringle”.Later，Kris Kringle became another name for Santa Claus himself.

不久，人們開(kāi)始發(fā)覺(jué)圣誕老人帶來(lái)的仁愛(ài)和善良應(yīng)該成為紀(jì)念Christkindl的一部分，德國(guó)人稱(chēng)其為圣子。此后，這就變成了“Kris Kringle”。之后，“Kris Kringle”成為圣誕老人的另一個(gè)名字。

Whatever he is called，he is still the same short，fat，jolly old man with a long beard，wearing a red suit with white fur.

無(wú)論圣誕老人被稱(chēng)作什么，他始終是那個(gè)矮胖歡樂(lè)的老人，留著長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的胡子，穿著一身帶白色皮毛的大紅外套。

The picture of Santa Claus，as we see him now，came from Thomas Nast.He was an American painter born in Bavaria.He painted pictures for Christmas poems.Someone asked him to paint a picture of Santa Claus.

我們看到的圣誕老人的畫(huà)像出自Thomas Nast。他是一位生于德國(guó)巴伐利亞的美國(guó)畫(huà)家。他為圣誕詩(shī)歌配圖，有人請(qǐng)他畫(huà)了一幅圣誕老人的畫(huà)像。

Nast remembered when he was a little boy in southern Germany.Every Christmas，a fat old man gave toys and cakes to the children.So，when Nast painted the picture，his Santa Claus looked like the kindly old man of his childhood.And through the years，Nast’s painting has remained as the most popular picture of Santa Claus.

Nast想起自己住在德國(guó)南部的童年時(shí)光，每年圣誕節(jié)都有一位胖胖的老人分給孩子們玩具和蛋糕，所以，Nast作畫(huà)時(shí)，他筆下的圣誕老人看起來(lái)像童年中的那位善良的老人。多年后，他筆下的圣誕老人仍然是最受歡迎的。

Santa can be seen almost everywhere in large American cities during the Christmas season. Some stand on street corners asking for money to buy food and gifts for the needy.Others are found in stores and shopping centers.

在圣誕節(jié)期間，美國(guó)大城市隨處可見(jiàn)圣誕老人。一些站在街角為有需要的人籌錢(qián)購(gòu)買(mǎi)食物和禮物，還有一些圣誕老人則出現(xiàn)在商店和購(gòu)物中心。

It is easy to find them by the long lines of children waiting to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.

我們不難找到圣誕老人，因?yàn)楹⒆觽冋胖L(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的隊(duì)伍等著告訴圣誕老人自己想要什么圣誕禮物。