張倩云

People in many ancient cultures believed that the Sun God became pale and frail1 during winter and that is why we had the winter solstice2. Evergreen trees reminded them of the plants that would grow once more， when the Sun God recovered3.

在許多古代文化中，人們相信太陽神在冬天變得蒼白和虛弱，這就是為什么我們有冬至節(jié)氣的原因。常綠的樹木會讓人們想起太陽神復蘇后還會再次生長的植物。

Who got the idea of lighting up a Christmas Tree？

Lights are important in the history of Christmas tree. Martin Luther， a Protestant4， was once walking through a forest of evergreen trees in Germany， when he saw sparkling stars lighting up the trees. Martin recreated this beautiful scene at home by lighting candles on his Christmas tree.

In 1895， Ralph Morris of the USA， got the idea of using electric lights on Christmas trees， changing Christmas celebrations forever. He helped make Christmas lights safer， as the danger of fire reduced5. Earlier， a Chicago hospital had burnt down because of Christmas candles. Insurance6 companies wanted a ban on Christmas candles because they caused many fires.

Can you guess the maximum7 number of lights anyone has put on a Christmas tree？ Its 194，672. This was done in Belgium in 2010.

是誰想到點亮圣誕樹這個主意的？

燈光在圣誕樹的歷史上是很重要的。有一位新教徒馬丁·路德，曾經在德國的一片常青樹林中散步，他看到閃爍的星星照亮了樹木。馬丁在家里點燃圣誕樹上的蠟燭，重現(xiàn)了這美麗的一幕。

1895年，美國的拉爾夫·莫里斯想出了在圣誕樹上使用電燈的主意，這永遠改變了圣誕節(jié)的慶祝方式。他幫忙使燈更安全，同時火災的危險減少了。在那之前，芝加哥一家醫(yī)院因為圣誕蠟燭而燒毀。保險公司希望禁止使用圣誕蠟燭，因為它們引發(fā)了許多火災。

你能猜出人們在一顆圣誕樹上放的燈的最大數(shù)量嗎？194672個。這是2010年人們在比利時做到的。

Early Christmas Trees

Some early Christmas trees were hung upside down from the ceiling. Chandeliers were used sometimes to do this.

What did artificial8 Christmas trees of that time look like？ If people couldnt afford a real tree， they would decorate pyramids9 of wood. They used Christmas tree decorations10 like candles， paper and apples. Some carried these around to show neighbors， instead of keeping the trees in their houses.

早期的圣誕樹

一些早期的圣誕樹是倒掛在天花板上的。有時人們會用枝形的吊燈來做圣誕樹。

那時候的人造圣誕樹是什么樣子的呢？如果人們買不起一棵真正的樹，他們會裝飾角錐形的木頭。他們用蠟燭、紙和蘋果等圣誕樹裝飾物。有些人把這些帶給周圍的鄰居看，而不是把樹放在家里。

Famous Christmas Trees

Every year， Norway sends the United Kingdom a giant Christmas tree as a thank-you gift for the help during World War II. It stands in Trafalgar Square， London.

There are also many famous Christmas trees around the world.

What Christmas decorations do you like？ Do you get your tree from a shop or do you make one？

著名的圣誕樹

挪威每年都會送英國一棵巨大的圣誕樹，以感謝英國在二戰(zhàn)期間的幫助。它矗立在倫敦特拉法加廣場。

全世界還有許多有名的圣誕樹。

你喜歡什么圣誕裝飾物？你的圣誕樹是從商店里買來的還是自己做的？

（英語原文選自：mocomi.com）

【Notes】

1. frail? ?adj. 脆弱的;虛弱的 2. solstice? ?n. 至，至日;至點

3. recover? ?v. 恢復 4. Protestant? ?n. 新教徒

5. reduce? ?v. 減少;降低 6. insurance? ?n. 保險

7. maximum? ?n. 最大限度;最大量 8. artificial? ?adj. 人造的

9. pyramid? ?n. 角錐體 10. decoration? ?n. 裝飾