圣誕老人

      It is said that in the year of 300 AD, there was a kind old man and his name was Saint Nicholas. He was always ready to help the poor and often gave presents to them.

      Today, Father Christmas is an imaginary figure, but nearly all young children believe in him. They think he is a happy old man with a long white beard and a long red robe.

      On the night of the twenty-fourth of December every year, Father Christmas from some cold northern land comes down the chimney of the fireplace to put presents by the beds of children or to fill their stockings. So when children go to bed that night, they hang up their stockings, and on Christmas morning they wake to find them full of presents. Of course, it's really their parents who fill the stockings.

      Another name for Father Christmas is Santa Claus.

    據(jù)說他原是小亞細亞每拉城的主教，名叫圣尼古拉，死后被尊為圣徒，是一位身穿紅袍、頭戴紅帽的白胡子老頭。每年圣誕節(jié)他駕著鹿拉的雪橇從北方面來，由煙囪進入各家，把圣誕禮物裝在襪子里掛在孩子們的床頭上或火爐前。所以，西方人過圣誕節(jié)時，父母把給孩子的圣誕禮物裝在襪子里，圣誕夜時掛在孩子們的床頭上。第二天，孩子們醒來后的第一件事就是在床頭上尋找圣誕老人送來的禮物。如今，圣誕老人已成為吉祥如意的象征，不僅是過圣誕節(jié)時不可缺少的人物，而且也是歡慶新年時不可缺少的人物。