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Christmas carol and tree

圣诞歌和圣诞树

The Christmas carol Silent Night and tree may be most people's first impressions of Christmas, but do you know where they came from?

圣诞歌《平安夜》和圣诞树可能是大多数人对圣诞节的第一印象,可是你知道它们的起源吗？

Born on a cold night in the chapel¹ of a small Austrian village, Silent Night, the world's most famous Christmas carol, is celebrating its 190th anniversary.

世界最著名的圣诞歌《平安夜》日前正迎来它的190岁生日。这首歌是在一个寒冷的夜晚诞生于奥地利一个小村庄的教堂。

The song, known as Stille Nacht in the original German, was first performed on December 24, 1818, in the tiny hamlet of Obemdorf,

《平安夜》的德文原名是Stille Nacht,这首歌于1818年12月24日在(奥地利的）欧本朵夫小村庄首度被演唱，

as a local assistant priest, Joseph Mohr, sought to eomfort his flock, racked by poverty and misery² in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.

当时教堂助理牧师穆尔用这首歌来抚慰在拿破仑战争后饱受贫穷和悲惨生活之苦的信徒们。

"He asked his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, a teacher, to compose the music for six verses he had written two years prior,

研究这一问题的专家、历史学家里内特艾柏林温克勒说：

and they performed the song together at mass with the help of a simple gui-tar," says Renate Ebeling-Winkler, a historian and expert on the topic.

"当时穆尔让他的朋友弗兰兹艾克塞瓦格鲁伯老师为他两年前所写的6段诗文谱曲，之后大家在做弥撒时一起演唱了这首歌,不过当时只有吉他伴奏。"

The song was an immediate³ success but remained a secret for many years, until an organ delivery man from Tyrol took note of it on his way through the village.

这首歌一举成功,但很多年来一直不为外界所知，直到一名从提洛尔来送管风琴的人路过村庄时,才注意到了这首歌。

It soon became a favorite with Tyrolean singers, traveling up and down the continent in the winter to earn money.

这首歌很快成为提洛尔卖艺人们的最爱,这些卖艺人在冬天常奔波于欧洲各地演唱赚钱。

"Admired for its resistance to Napoleon, Tyrol was very popular with allied⁴ countries and its best singers, like the Rainer family, were world stars, " said Ebeling-Winkler.

艾柏林温克勒说:"提洛尔因抵御拿破仑的侵略而受到尊敬，在同盟国享有较高声望,而当地的一些顶级歌手如雷纳家族,则是世界级的歌星。"

These artists gave Silent Night worldwide fame, performing it at the royal court in London in 1827, in Moscow in 1831 and in New York in 1839.

正是这些艺人让《平安夜》成为誉满全球的经典歌曲,他们分别于1827年、1831年和183神前往英国伦敦的王室、莫斯科和纽约演出.

By this time, its origins had been largely forgotten and Mohr died in 1848 without ever knowing of his song's success.

直到那个时候,这首歌的始创人已几乎被遗忘,穆尔于1848年 去世，死前他都不知道他的作品获得了如此成功。

Franz Xaver Gruber only found out about it in 1854 when the carol was almost attributed to Michael Haydn, the brother of famed composer Joseph Haydn.

弗兰兹艾克塞瓦格鲁伯也是到了1854年才为人所知，当时这首歌差点被认为是著名作曲家约瑟夫海顿的弟弟迈克尔?海顿所创作。

But Silent Night had already made its way into German school books and into the Catholic and Protestant churches.

但此时《平安夜》已经进人了德国学校的课本,并且已开始在天主教和基督教教堂中传唱，

Every year, thousands of tourists, many from Asia, travel to the little village to take part in a Christmas Eve ceremony in front of the small chapel.

每年圣诞节都会有大批游客(很多来自亚洲)来到欧本朵夫村庄,参加在教堂前举行的"平安夜"吟唱仪式。

The origin of Christmas tree is not as clear as Silent Night

圣诞树的起源就不像《平安夜》那么清楚了。

Legend suggests that, in the late 16th century,

传说在16世纪后期，马丁路德(新教创始人)是第一个在室内装饰树的人。

Martin Luther (the founder⁵ of the Protestant religion) was the first to decorate an indoor tree with candles when he attempted to recreate the stars shining over a forest of evergreens⁶.

为了创造出在常青的树林上星星闪耀的模样,他将点燃的蜡烛插在树上。

The first mention of decorated trees being taken indoors came in 1605 in Germany-a country with a long Christmas tree history!

室内装饰树首次被提及是在1605年的德国,一个拥有很长圣诞树历史的国家。

The trees were initially⁷ decorated with fruit and sweets together with hand made objects such as quilted snowflakes and stars.

最初人们用水果、糖果以及像缝制的雪花和星星等手工制品来装饰树。

German Christmas Markets began to sell shaped gingerbreads and wax ornaments⁸ which people bought as souvenirs of the fair and took home to hang on their tree.

德国圣诞市场开始出售造型姜饼和蜡烛，人们从市场里买来作为礼物,并带回家挂在树上。

Tinsel was also invented in Germany in about 1610. Up until fairly recently real silver was used, which was pulled into wafer thin strips by special machines.

金属丝大约在1610年左右发明于德国，是将金属放到特殊的机器里制成的纤细的线圈，直到最近还沿用真银。

This was durable⁹ but tarnished¹⁰ quickly and many experiments took place to try and find an alternative-including a mix of lead and tin,which was too heavy and kept breaking.

金属丝虽然很耐用但是容易生锈。人们做了许多实验,试图从中找到替代品。这其中包括锡锡混合物,但太重而且容易断裂。

It was only in the mid¹¹ 20th century that a viable¹² alternative was found.

只有到了20世纪中期人们才找到了能使用的替代品。

Artificial trees were invented in the 1880s in a bid to try and stop some of the damage being caused to real trees due to people lopping the tip off large trees, thus preventing the trees from growing any further.

为了防止人们在为了抑制真树长髙,进行修剪时对树木造成的破坏行为，人们在19世纪80年代发明了人造圣诞树。

It got so bad in Germany that laws had to be brought in to prevent people having more than one tree.

它卖得太好了，造成德国政府不得不立法规定每家只能拥有一棵圣诞树。

1 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

2 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 evergreens   

n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The leaves of evergreens are often shaped like needles. 常绿植物的叶常是针形的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pine, cedar and spruce are evergreens. 松树、雪松、云杉都是常绿的树。 来自辞典例句

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

10 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

11 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

12 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。