听播客学英语 195 圣诞老人

 　　Today I am going to talk to you about Santa Claus. Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, is a jolly man with a red suit and a white beard. He brings children presents in the night before Christmas Day. He arrives on a sleigh pulled by reindeer¹. Normally, he enters the house by climbing down the chimney. The children leave stockings hanging at the end of their beds. Santa Claus fills the stockings with presents for the children to find when they wake up in the morning.

　　There are two sorts of children in the world. There are children who believe passionately² in Santa Claus until they are teenagers. And there are children who know immediately that Santa Claus is a lie, invented by grown-ups for strange grown-up reasons that only grown-ups understand.

　　These children do not believe in Santa Claus because:

　　Santa Claus could not possibly visit all the houses in England in one night

　　a sleigh is a stupid way to travel in England where it hardly ever snows at Christmas

　　there are no reindeer in England

　　the chimney is too small, and many houses don’t have one

　　children have not worn stockings since about 1923. They wear socks or (if they are girls) tights instead

　　it is against the law to break into people’s houses. The police would arrest Santa Claus if he tried

　　Nonetheless³, I can tell you that there is a Santa Claus. I know that this is true because, well, last week I was Santa Claus. I visited a children’s nursery, or kindergarden, as a special guest. I wore a red suit and a white beard. I left my sleigh and reindeer in a multi-storey car park nearby. I entered the nursery (but through the door, not the chimney). The children were having their Christmas party. Several of them screamed and hid in a corner when they saw me. The others shyly came to talk to me. I gave them presents from my sack.

　　One little boy – he was about two years old – had a present for me. It was a dummy⁴. It was very old, very dirty and very chewed. Why did he give me his dummy? Well, when you are two years old, giving up your dummy is a bit like giving up smoking. It is difficult! The little boy gave his dummy to Santa Claus to prove to himself that he did not need his dummy any more.

　　So – Santa Claus does exist. He is real. He gives presents to children at Christmas and helps children who want to stop using their dummies⁵. You had better believe it!

1 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

2 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

3 nonetheless   

adv.尽管如此，依然，然而

参考例句：

• Though he's fool,I like him nonetheless.虽然他很笨，我仍然喜欢他。
• His face is serious but nonetheless very friendly.他一脸严肃，但还是非常友好。

4 dummy   

n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头

参考例句：

• The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。
• The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。

5 dummies   

n.仿制品( dummy的名词复数 )；橡皮奶头；笨蛋；假传球

参考例句：

• If he dummies up, just try a little persuasion. 如果他不说话，稍微劝劝他就是了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All the articles in the window are dummies. 橱窗里的全部物品都是仿制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》