英語沙龍十年合集珍藏版第三輯Deck the Halls With Fibs & Folly
Deck the Halls With Fibs & Folly
“So anyway，is Santa real or fake？”the smallest person in the house demanded of me last week．“Why？What have you been told？”I answered suspiciously．
“That he’s just a man dressed up．”
“Well．．．”
“And that’s his beard is fake．”
“Mmmm．．．”
“And that his elves aren’t elves――they’re just little kids that have stopped growing．”
“No，I don’t think that’s right，”I said．
“So what’s the story，Mum？”
Well，what’s the story indeed？Is the story that I will inevitably1) continue my own parents‘convincing Santa fable？The one about Santa being a ubiquitous2) frequenter of suburban shopping malls around December，a hoarder of toys and all－seeing judge－and－jury of bad behavior？The one about him sneaking down the chimney we don’t have on Christmas Eve，devouring one or two bikkies and half－a－dozen stubbies before depositing decent gifts for the kids of the house who’s just pulled off an１１th hour bout of exceptional behavior？Is that what I’ll say？
Or will I come clean on this increasingly outdated fabrication3)？Will I save myself from my daughter’s potential scorn when，at the age of nine or ten，she discovers her mother’s pants are very definitely on fire？And if so，will my rather straight－shooting four－year－old daughter be able to contain herself from spilling the beans to those among her little friends whose parents have worked very，very hard to pull the whole lie off without incident？（I seriously doubt it．）Perhaps，then，I’ll invent a new tradition，a quaint and harmless compromise between the myth and the reality of Christmas．
Perhaps it’ll be something about there existing a Christmas“angel，”an invisible being that is really the spirit of the festive4) season；who，through love and kindness and a touch of magic，inspires families to share gifts，fine food，good times and year－long grudges5） about who got drunk and broke the fountain in the front garden．
Whatever my final story，I hope I at least succeed in making Christmas a special time for my daughter，one that she counts down the sleeps to each year and looks upon with excitement and tinsel－tinged6) wonder．I hope she grows up to love Bing Crosby’s White Christmas．I hope she shares my love of living，lop sided Christmas trees obtained via dubious means．I hope she wants to make her own decorations out of Cornflakes packets and mountains of alfoil7)．But most of all，I hope she realizes that Christmas is not about receiving；it’s about giving．
by Carrie Schofield
用“謊言”裝點圣誕
“圣誕老人到底是真的還是假的？”家里最小的孩子上周問我。“怎么啦？誰跟你說過什么嗎？”我疑惑地答道。
“他不過是個人裝扮的而已。”
“這……”
“而且，連他的胡子都是假的。”
“嗯……”
“還有他身邊的小精靈根本就不是什么精靈，只不過是不再長高的小孩子。”
“哪兒的話，我可不這么想，”我說。
“那么，媽媽，圣誕老人到底是怎么一回事呢？”
是啊，到底是怎么一回事呢？難道我一定也要重復(fù)父輩的講述，繼續(xù)讓孩子相信圣誕老人的神話嗎？還是說那個每到１２月份就到處現(xiàn)身、頻繁光顧郊區(qū)購物中心的就是圣誕老人？或者說圣誕老人收藏著無數(shù)玩具，并且對不良行為無不知曉？要么就說，圣誕老人總是在圣誕夜鉆進(jìn)那個我們家并不存在的煙囪悄然而至，在吞下一兩塊小餅干、喝上６小瓶啤酒之后，為那些頗不尋常地熬夜到１１點的孩子們送上精美禮物。
難道這就是我要講的嗎？難道我該把這個越來越老套的虛構(gòu)故事和盤托出？難道我該讓自己不致在某一天遭到女兒的嘲笑，等她長大到９歲或１０歲時，看出她媽媽的難堪窘狀？果真如此，我這個心直口快的４歲大的女兒會克制自己不泄露給她的那些小伙伴們嗎？要知道，那些小伙伴的父母煞費苦心，才讓自己的孩子相信了全部謊話而未露一絲破綻。（我實在是心存疑慮。）
那么，或許我要編造一個有關(guān)圣誕節(jié)的新的、離奇而又無傷大雅、介于真實與神話傳說之間的折中說法吧。譬如說確實有這樣一位圣誕“天使”，一個節(jié)日期間的隱身仙人。他通過愛心與慈善，再加上一點魔法，使家家戶戶共享禮物、美食、歡樂時光，并消除大家一年的類似于誰喝醉后弄壞了前花園的噴泉這樣的積怨。
不論我最終跟她講些什么，我希望至少我能讓我的女兒感覺到圣誕是一段特殊的日子，一段她會日夜期盼、帶著興奮與想像翹首以待的日子。我希望她長大之后會喜愛賓·克羅斯比的《白色的圣誕節(jié)》這支歌。我希望她能像我一樣地喜愛那些頗費周折才搞到的向一邊傾斜的活的圣誕樹。我希望她會用裝玉米片的包裝盒和無數(shù)鋁箔片自己動手制作裝飾物。然而最重要的是，我希望她明白圣誕節(jié)并不意味著接受，而是意味著給予。
NOTE 注釋：
1. inevitably [in5evitEbli] adv. 不可避免地
2. ubiquitous [ju:5bikwitEs] adj. 到處存在的
3. fabrication [7fAbri5keiFEn] n. 虛構(gòu)地東西
4. festive [5festiv] adj. 慶祝的, 喜慶
5. grudge [^rQdV] n. 懷恨；怨恨
6. tinsel-tinged [5tinsEl tindVid] adj. 蒙上一層金屬箔光彩地（文中指對圣誕歡樂氣氛的遐想與期待）
7. alfoil [AlfCil] n. 鋁箔片
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