經典回信：圣誕老人真的存在嗎？

　　Dear Editor,

　　I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

　　Virginia O’Hanlon

　　115 W. 95th St

　　親愛的主編：

　　我今年八歲了。一些小朋友說世界上并沒有圣誕老人。爸爸告訴我：“如果《太陽報》說有，那就真的有�！闭埬�告訴我，世界上真的有圣誕老人嗎?

　　弗吉尼婭奧漢隆

　　紐約市西95街115號

　　In 1897, on the advice of her father, eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a short, inquisitive letter to the editor of New York’s since-defunct newspaper, The Sun, in which she sought confirmation of Santa Claus’s existence. The paper’s editor, Francis P. Church, soon replied to Virginia’s letter by way of an editorial, titled “Is There a Santa Claus?”, which went on to become, and in fact remains to this day, the most reprinted English-language editorial in history, and which has since spawned numerous adaptations.

　　1897年，八歲的弗吉尼婭奧漢隆在爸爸的建議下，給紐約《太陽報》(現(xiàn)已�？�)時任主編弗朗西斯P.丘奇寫了一封簡短的信，詢問圣誕老人是否真的存在。這位主編很快以社論的形式回復了弗吉尼婭，社論題為“圣誕老人真的存在嗎?”。刊發(fā)至今，該文已成為史上重印次數(shù)最多的一篇英文社論，并且改編版本眾多。

　　Virginia herself went on to become a teacher and as a result of her innocent question received fan mail for much of her life. She passed away in 1971, aged 81.

　　長大后，弗吉尼婭成為了一名教師。她在大半生中一直收到熱心人的郵件，回復她兒時那個天真無邪的問題。1971年，弗吉尼婭去世，享年81歲。

　　VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

　　親愛的弗吉尼婭，你的小朋友們說圣誕老人不存在，他們錯了。他們已經被質疑一切的時代風氣所影響。他們只相信自己眼睛看到的事情，以為自己的小腦袋無法理解的事物絕不存在。所有人，不論是大人還是小孩，才智都有限。在這個浩瀚的宇宙中，與身處其中的無垠世界相比，以掌握全部真理和知識的智慧來衡量，人類的智力只相當于螻蟻這樣的昆蟲。

　　Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

　　是的，弗吉尼婭，世界上真的有圣誕老人。你一定知道，這個世界充滿了愛、慷慨和奉獻，我們的生活因此而無比美好和歡樂，圣誕老人就和它們一樣。啊，如果沒有圣誕老人，這個世界將多么令人沮喪!就如同沒有你這樣的小朋友一樣令人沮喪!那樣，便沒了孩童的天真，沒了詩意，沒了讓我們生有可戀的愛情。除了膚淺的感官之娛外，我們再無歡樂可言。而童年帶給這個世界的永恒之光也會徹底消失。

　　Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

　　不相信圣誕老人的存在!那也別相信小精靈的存在了�；蛟S你可以讓爸爸在圣誕夜雇幾個人看著所有的煙囪，看看是否能遇到圣誕老人。不過，即便他們沒有看到圣誕老人從煙囪里下來，那又能說明什么呢?雖然沒人看到他，但也沒有事實能證明他不存在。世界上最真實的事物是孩子和大人們都看不到的。你親眼看到過精靈在草地上跳舞嗎?肯定沒有，但也沒有證據(jù)能說明他們不存在。這世上沒有看到和不能看到的神奇事物遠超出我們的認知和想象。

　　You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, not even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

　　如果你想弄明白小寶寶的撥浪鼓里是什么在響，大可將其打開一探究竟。但面對遮住未知世界的神秘面紗，我們之中最強大的人，甚至集合史上所有強者的力量，也無法掀開一角。只有信念、詩歌、熱愛與愛情可以將其掀開，使我們親眼見證并描繪此間的大美與榮光。這些都是真實存在的嗎?啊，親愛的弗吉尼婭，世界上沒有比這更真實、更永恒的了。

　　No Santa Claus! Thank GOD! He lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

　　世界上沒有圣誕老人?!謝天謝地!他不僅真實存在，而且將永遠存在。從現(xiàn)在開始的一千年后，不，千千萬萬年以后，他依然會給孩子們的內心帶來歡樂。

　　Francis P. Church, Editor

　　主編 弗朗西斯P.丘奇

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