2018年托福閱讀素材：圣誕節(jié)的起源

　　We’ve all heard the Biblical origin of Christmas, but societies have been celebrating life and birth in the darkest day in winter centuries before Jesus walked the earth.

　　大家都聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)圣經(jīng)版本的圣誕起源，但是早在基督誕生以前，在冬季最黑暗的冬至?xí)r刻，人們(譯注：society是“社會(huì)”的意思，復(fù)數(shù)形式societies在這里的意思是擁有不同語(yǔ)言和文化的各種早期的人類社會(huì)形式。)已經(jīng)有了慶祝的傳統(tǒng)。

　　In the north country, this winter celebration was known as Yule. Around December 21st, the winter solstice, fathers and sons dragged evergreens indoors as reminders of life and set logs on fire as promise of a good fortune.

　　在北方的國(guó)度(譯注：主要指北歐)，這種冬日慶�；顒�(dòng)被稱為Yule節(jié)。在冬至——12月21日左右，父子們將常青樹(shù)放入室內(nèi)寓意生命，并將原木點(diǎn)燃象征著好運(yùn)。

　　Ancient Rome had its own December festivals. One week before the winter solstice, Romans begins celebrating Saturnalia, an orgy of food and drink in honor of Saturn, the God of agriculture.

　　古代的羅馬人也有自己的12月的慶祝節(jié)日。在冬至之前的一周，羅馬人開(kāi)始名為Saturnalia的節(jié)日，它是為了紀(jì)念農(nóng)業(yè)之神Saturn的狂歡盛宴。

　　Some Romans particularly soldiers and government officials also worshiped Mithra, the sun god. It is believed that to this small but powerful sect, the birthday of Mithra,December 25th was the holiest day of the year.

　　一些羅馬人，主要是士兵和官員，同時(shí)也崇拜太陽(yáng)之神Mithra。人們相信Mithra的生日——12月25日——對(duì)于這個(gè)人數(shù)不多但力量強(qiáng)大的宗派來(lái)說(shuō)是一年中最神圣的日子。

　　By the first century AD, pagan traditions were being challenged as Christianity took whole through the empire. But Christ’s birthday remained the mystery since the Bible doesn’t mention exactly when he was born.

　　公元后1世紀(jì)，異教徒(基督教以外)的傳統(tǒng)受到了在整個(gè)羅馬帝國(guó)得到傳立的基督教的挑戰(zhàn)。但是由于圣經(jīng)并沒(méi)有準(zhǔn)確提及基督的生日是哪天，所以基督的生日仍是個(gè)謎。

　　Since pagan Rome already celebrated the birth of Mithraon December 25th, it is theorized that the church adopt the date as the birth of the Christ child. In the fourth century, the church made it official declaring the December 25th as the feast day of the utility.

　　由于羅馬的異教徒已經(jīng)在12月25日這天慶祝Mithra的生日，人們建立了一種推理即教會(huì)將同一天采納作為基督的生日。在公元4世紀(jì)，教會(huì)正式宣布這一天可以用來(lái)舉行盛宴和慶祝。

　　The church knew it cannot outlaw the pagan traditions of Christmas, so it came to accept them. The evergreens traditionally brought indoors were decorated with apples symbolizing the Garden of Eden. These apples would eventually become Christmas ornaments.

　　教會(huì)知道他們無(wú)法取代異教徒慶祝12月25日的傳統(tǒng)，于是他們順應(yīng)地接受了它。作為傳統(tǒng)會(huì)在這一天被帶入室內(nèi)的常青樹(shù)被掛上了蘋果，用來(lái)象征伊甸園。這些蘋果后來(lái)最終成為了現(xiàn)在圣誕樹(shù)上掛著的各種裝飾物。

　　The story of Santa Claus also begins in the 4thcentury with the death of Nicholas, a beloved Turkish bishop. The anniversary of his death became known as Saint Nicholas Day. On December 6th, good children woke to gifts from the kindly saint, bad children sobbed away with nothing. In Holland he was known as Santa Claus.

　　Santa Claus(圣誕老人)的故事同樣可以追溯至公元4世紀(jì)，它與一個(gè)備受敬愛(ài)的名為尼古拉斯的土耳其主教的死有關(guān)。每年這位主教去世的日子被稱為“圣人尼古拉斯節(jié)”。在12月6日，乖孩子醒來(lái)會(huì)看到這位好心的圣人給他們的禮物，而壞孩子則會(huì)兩手空空，哭泣地走開(kāi)。在荷蘭，這位圣人被叫做Santa Claus。

　　1500 years later in America, a seminary professor named Clement Clarke Moore reimagined the legend of Saint Nicholas.

　　1500年后的美國(guó)，一位名叫克萊門特.克拉克.摩爾的神學(xué)院教授重新想象了有關(guān)尼古拉斯圣人的傳說(shuō)。

　　In 1822, Moore wrote a poem called Night Before Chiristmas about a good-natured saint named Santa Claus who was pulled by group of reindeer and came down the chimney on Christmas eve. Like Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus bred good cheer and gave gifts to children. Less clear was exactly what did Santa Claus look like.

　　1822年，摩爾寫了一首名為《圣誕前夜》的詩(shī)，這首詩(shī)講述了一個(gè)心地善良的名叫Santa Claus的圣人的故事，它坐著由馴鹿拉的車，在圣誕節(jié)前的夜里爬下煙囪。和尼古拉斯圣人一樣，Santa Claus帶來(lái)歡笑和禮物給孩子。只是這首詩(shī)并沒(méi)有講清楚他的樣貌。

　　Then in 1863, Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, settled the matter once and for all with his version of the Christmas saint. Nast’s Santa was rotund and jolly with full white bear and a sackfull of toys. An American icon was born.

　　然后在1863年，哈勃周報(bào)的卡通插畫師托馬斯.納斯特用他的畫一次性解決了這個(gè)問(wèn)題。在他筆下的圣誕老人身材渾圓，散發(fā)著歡樂(lè)的光亮，有白色的大胡子和一個(gè)裝滿玩具的大背包。于是，一個(gè)美國(guó)偶像就這樣誕生了。

　　托福中可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)的單詞：

　　biblical

　　evergreen

　　log

　　orgy

　　sect

　　pagan

　　theorize

　　declare

　　outlaw

　　be decorated with

　　ornament

　　bishop

　　seminary

　　reimagine

　　rotund

　　jolly