第600期：Is there a Santa Claus? – 真的有圣诞老人吗？

发布于2019年9月21日2019年9月21日作者:佛老

122年前的今天（1897年9月21日），纽约曼哈顿的一个小女孩弗吉尼亚·欧汉伦（Virginia O’Hanlon）给纽约太阳报（The New York Sun)写了一封信：

Dear Editor,

I am 8 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 West Ninety-Fifth Street

亲爱的太阳报编辑：

我今年八岁。我的一些朋友说圣诞老人不存在。

但爸爸说“如果太阳报上说存在，就是真的。”

请告诉我真相，真的有圣诞老人吗？

弗吉尼亚·欧汉伦

西95大街115号

太阳报编辑弗朗西斯·彻奇（Francis Pharcellus Church）收到来信后，决定用报纸社评的形式回复这封信。

彻奇在美国内战期间作过战地记者，看过很多残酷血腥的场面。他看到当时的美国社会充满了一种绝望的情绪，于是在报纸上写了一篇报社社评作为回信（全文如下，汉语部分为佛老草译）：

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. 弗吉尼亚，你的小伙伴们错了。

They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. 他们都被这个怀疑一切的时代影响了。他们只相信他们看见的东西。

They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. 他们以为他们小小的头脑无法理解的就是不存在的。

All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. 但是，弗吉尼亚，人的头脑，不论是大人的还是小孩的，都很渺小。

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. 在我们这个伟大的宇宙中，人类的智商跟无限的世界相比，就像一只昆虫，人类理解宇宙真相和知识的能力就像一只蚂蚁一样微不足道。

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. 是的，弗吉尼亚，真的有圣诞老人。

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. 他就像爱、慷慨、奉献这些东西一样真实地存在，并充满你的生命，给你至高无上的美好和快乐。

Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. 啊！如果圣诞老人不存在，这世界该多乏味啊？就像世界上少了弗吉尼亚一样枯燥。

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. 如果那样的话，世上将没有天真无邪的信仰，没有诗歌，没有浪漫的存在。我们将不再有快乐，只剩下感官和视觉。天真童年带给这个世界的光亮也将熄灭。

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? 你或许不相信圣诞老人，或许也不相信精灵！你可以让你爸爸请人在圣诞夜守着烟囱等着抓住圣诞老人，但是即使他们没有见过圣诞老人顺着烟囱下来，那又证明了什么呢？

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. 没人能看见圣诞老人，但这不能证明圣诞老人不存在。世界上最真实的东西都是大人和小孩都看不见的。

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. 你见过精灵们在草坪上跳舞吗？当然没有，但这不代表精灵们不存在。没有人能想象出那些我们看不见的东西。

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, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. 你可以把小孩的拨浪鼓拆开看看里面到底是什么发出的声音，但在未知世界上面有一层面纱，即使全世界所有最强壮的人一起都无法揭开。

Only faith, fancy, 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. 只有信念、想象、诗歌、爱和浪漫才能揭开这层面纱看到里面崇高的美好和荣耀。这是真的吗？啊，弗吉尼亚，这整个世界上没有任何东西比这更真实更永恒。

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he 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. 怎么可以没有圣诞老人呢！感谢上帝！圣诞老人是存在的，他永远存在。一千年以后，弗吉尼亚，不，十万年以后，他仍将继续给孩子们送来快乐。