[高兴不起来是什么病]高兴不起来的美国圣诞老人


英语四级报名时间 2020-02-01 12:56:13 英语四级报名时间
[摘要]罗德•里默施马在芝加哥市郊的一座购物商城当圣诞老人已经有很长时间了,他过去常常开玩笑地告诉孩子们,如果他们调皮,得到的圣诞礼物就会是袜子。As a longtime Santa Claus at a

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罗德•里默施马在芝加哥市郊的一座购物商城当圣诞老人已经有很长时间了,他过去常常开玩笑地告诉孩子们,如果他们调皮,得到的圣诞礼物就会是袜子。
As a longtime Santa Claus at a suburban Chicago mall, Rod Riemersma used to jokingly tell children they would get socks for Christmas if they were naughty.
  
今年,他不再开这种玩笑了。有太多孩子想要袜子。“他们可能听到父母说,‘唉,我希望我能有钱给他们买些衣服’”,56岁的里默施马说。
This year, he stopped telling the joke. Too many children were asking for socks. "They"ve probably heard their parents say, "Geez, I wish I had some money to get them clothes,"" says Mr. Riemersma, 56 years old.
  
今年的圣诞季,从美国各地白胡子、红衣服的圣诞老人收到的圣诞心愿中,反映出经济困难时期的萧瑟之象。几年前,孩子们梦比天高,他们向圣诞老人要Xbox、iPod和笔记本电脑。但是,几十位在购物商城或派对表演中工作的圣诞老人说,随着经济持续低迷,许多孩子开始索要基本生活用品,比如鞋子、借书证甚至是眼镜。
A wintry measure of hard times can be found this holiday season on the knee of white-bearded, red-suited men around the country. A couple of years ago, children were shooting for the moon, asking St. Nick for Xboxes, iPods and laptops. But with the economy still fragile, many children are requesting basics such as shoes, library cards and even eyeglasses, say dozens of Santas who work at malls or on the party circuit.
  
在洛杉矶经营一家圣诞老人培训学校的蒂姆•康诺翰说,孩子们会听到E打头的单词,但不是埃尔莫(Elmo,儿童电视节目“芝麻街”中的玩偶名字),而是经济。
"Kids will hear the E-word, but it"s not Elmo," says Tim Connaghan, who runs a Los Angeles Santa-training school. "It"s the economy."
  
从潮水般涌向阿拉斯加州北极镇的信件中,就能清楚地看出金钱危机给孩子们带来的压力有多大。那里是圣诞主题商店圣诞老人之家的所在地,父母们可以在这家店定制由圣诞老人寄出、盖有北极镇邮戳的信件。每年寄给圣诞老人的信都有数万封之多。业务经理保罗•布朗说,信件内容不仅提前数月预示圣诞节最火爆的玩具,而且还反映出国民的情绪。
The extent to which money woes are weighing on children is clear from the letters flooding into North Pole, Alaska. That"s the home of the Santa Claus House, a Christmas-themed shop where parents can order letters from Santa with a North Pole postmark. It gets tens of thousands of letters to Santa every year. Operations manager Paul Brown says the messages not only predict the holiday"s hottest toys months in advance but also gauge the mood of the nation.
  
布朗说起这些信件的内容时说,当我们遇到房贷危机时,我们看到的是“请帮我们留在自己的房子里”;今年信件更多地是与工作有关。这些信件被转交给一家与孩子们家乡的慈善机构合作的非赢利组织。
"When we had the housing crunch, we saw, "Please help us stay in our house,"" Mr. Brown says of the letters, which are forwarded to a nonprofit that works with charities in the children"s hometowns. "This year, it"s more job-related."
  
美国的圣诞老人们正在尽其所能帮助孩子们应对难关。由于预期将出现大量与经济衰退相关的问题,今年11月,康诺翰向其电子邮件通讯组中的1,800位圣诞老人发出了建议信。
The Kris Kringles of America are doing their best to help children cope. Anticipating a deluge of recession-related questions, Mr. Connaghan in November sent advice to his email network of 1,800 Santas.
  
这些建议包括告诉忧心忡忡的孩子们“事情会好起来的”,并问他们能否让圣诞老人“带去一个惊喜”,而不是承诺送出具体的礼物。他建议说,圣诞老人的工作“是让孩子感觉更好”。他建议圣诞老人让孩子们到当地慈善机构去找圣诞礼物。
The tips included telling worried children that "things will get better" and asking if Santa could "bring a surprise," instead of promising specific gifts. The job of a Santa "is to make the child feel better," he counseled. He suggested that Santas refer children to local charities to find Christmas gifts.
  
这正是吉姆•刘易斯所做的。他是丹佛市的Bass Pro Shop室外用品店的圣诞老人,最近,一位穿着红色格子呢外衣的金发小姑娘向他要一幅眼镜,好让她能看清教室里的黑板,这个要求着实让他吃了一惊。他及时回过神,招呼他的一个小精灵过来,小精灵告诉那个小姑娘的妈妈,当地的慈善机构狮子会可以帮助向贫困儿童提供处方眼镜。
That"s what Jim Lewis did. A Santa at a Bass Pro Shop outdoor-goods store in Denver, he blanched when a blond girl in a red plaid dress recently asked for a pair of eyeglasses so she could see the classroom board. He recovered in time to motion over one of his elves, who told the girl"s mother about the local Lions Club, which helps provide needy children with prescription glasses.

如果我们能实现更多像这样的愿望该多好,但遗憾的是,这只是个特例,” 60岁的刘易斯说,他不当圣诞老人时是一位房地产评估师。
"It would be wonderful if we could grant more wishes like that, but unfortunately, this is the exception to the rule," says the 60-year-old Mr. Lewis, a real-estate appraiser when he takes off the Santa suit.

有时,即使是最好的培训也无法让圣诞老人随时应对自如。在俄亥俄州哥伦比亚市的北极星时尚广场扮演圣诞老人的迈克•史密斯说,上个月,一个穿着“爱探险的朵拉”运动衫的5岁小女孩跳坐到他腿上问道:“你能把我爸爸变成小精灵吗?”“为什么?”他问。
Sometimes even the best training can"t keep Santa from being caught off guard. Mike Smith, who works as Santa at the Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, Ohio, says a 5-year-old girl wearing a Dora the Explorer sweat shirt last month hopped in his lap and asked, "Can you turn my daddy into an elf?" "Why?" he asked.
  
小女孩说:“因为我爸爸丢了工作,我们的房子就快没了。”
"Because my daddy"s out of work, and we"re about to lose our house," she said.
  
小女孩的妈妈正推着她小弟弟的婴儿车站在一旁,忍不住泪流满面。不知所措的史密斯问那个小女孩,她父亲的木工手艺好不好,小女孩说好。他遗憾地说,我不知道在那之后该说什么,于是我们就照了张相。
The girl"s mother, standing by her little brother"s stroller, burst into tears. A stunned Mr. Smith asked the girl if her father was good with a hammer, and the girl said yes. "I didn"t know what to say after that, so we just took the picture," he says with regret.
  
当然,圣诞老人并不是准确的经济指标。近期公布的政府数据显示,今年11月的零售额比10月略有上升。而且,并不是每一位圣诞老人都称孩子们今年的要求有所不同。本文作者采访的40多位圣诞老人中,许多人都说,他们遇到的那些家境富裕的孩子提出的要求和往年一样大胆。
Santas aren"t precise economic indicators, of course. Government data out Friday showed that retail sales inched up in November from October. And not every Kringle is reporting a difference in what children are requesting this year. Many of the 40-some Santas interviewed for this article say they work with affluent children whose requests are as bold as ever.
  
凯利•克赖斯在新奥尔良地区当圣诞老人,他说,他在一些派对上见到的孩子仍然索要起价299美元的PlayStation 3,而其他孩子要的也是让荷包大出血的高价礼物。但是,他在当地的哈拉斯赌场酒店遇见的孩子的礼物要求却比往年降低了。最近,一个7岁大的男孩向他要鞋子。克赖斯问,你是想要飞人乔丹(耐克公司出品的一款运动鞋)吗?。
Kelly Crais, who plays Santa in the New Orleans area, says the children he sees at some parties still ask for a PlayStation 3, which starts at $299, and other wallet-busting gifts. But the children he sees for free at his local Harrah"s Hotel & Casino have downgraded their lists from previous years. One 7-year-old boy recently asked for shoes. "Do you want Air Jordans?" Mr. Crais asked.
  
那个男孩答道,不,是校鞋。我的鞋子破了。
The boy responded, "No, school shoes. My shoes have holes in them."
  
67岁的克赖斯是一位退休的商业艺术家,他打电话给他的摄影师,摄影师告诉男孩的母亲关于当地慈善机构可提供圣诞礼物的信息。
Mr. Crais, a 67-year-old retired commercial artist, called over his photographer, who told the boy"s mother about local charities.
  
一些大点的孩子说,他们已经降低了对礼物的要求。克里斯蒂安•波蒂略是旧金山一所社区学院的学生,今年17岁,他最近到一家购物商城去找圣诞老人,想照一些家庭照。他说,他通常会要Xbox 360的电子游戏作为圣诞礼物。但是他的父亲西泽是遭遇资金短缺的加州大学伯克利分校的信息技术人员,今年的薪水锐减了约10%。
Some older children say they have scaled back their gift requests. Christian Portillo, a 17-year-old community-college student in San Francisco, recently went to a mall to visit Santa for some family photos. He says he typically would have asked for Xbox 360 videogames for Christmas. But his father, Cesar, an information-technology staff member at the cash-strapped University of California at Berkeley, had his salary slashed about 10% this year.
  
因此,年轻的波蒂略说,现在我想要一个自行车架。他的父母在分类网站Craigslist上为他买了一个自行车架,他们说,今年他们想从那里淘到些二手礼物。
So, the younger Mr. Portillo says, "Now all I want is a bike rack." His parents got one for him on Craigslist, where they say they are scrounging for secondhand gifts this year.
  
甚至有些父母也开始向圣诞老人倾诉他们的苦恼。56岁的人才中介师洛伦•史密斯在圣迭戈的海洋世界扮演圣诞老人。他说,他经常倾听母亲们的诉说,并对她们说,你已经有太长时间没和圣诞老人谈心了。你想要什么圣诞礼物?
Even some parents are sharing their worries with Santa. Loren Smith, a 56-year-old talent agent who works as Santa at Sea World in San Diego, says he often leans over to mothers and says, "You haven"t talked to Santa for a good long time. What do you want for Christmas?"
  
“我想要回我的工作,”上周,一位女士答道。这位女士说她丢掉了她的航空管理工作,于是两个人谈了几分钟关于经济的话题。史密斯说,我脱离了自己所扮演的角色,不过我并不经常这样做。
"I"d just like to get my job back," responded one woman last week. The woman said she lost her airline management job, and the two talked about the economy for a few minutes. "I stepped out of character," Mr. Smith says. "I don"t do that very often."
 
但就算是今年,也仍然有欢乐的时刻。最近,里默施马就在芝加哥市郊遇到了一次,当时几个孩子带着他们88岁的祖母来见他。
Yet even this year, there are still jolly moments. One occurred for Mr. Riemersma in suburban Chicago recently, when some children brought their 88-year-old grandmother to see him.
  
这位女士说,哦,不,我已经有好多年没坐到男人腿上了。她犹豫了一下才坐上去。但是过了一会儿,她笑着对他说,但你猜怎么着,圣诞老人?我仍然喜欢这么做。
"Oh, no, I haven"t sat on a man"s lap in years," the woman said, before she reluctantly climbed on. But after a moment, she grinned at him and said, "But guess what, Santa? I still like it."

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