研討會/講座

各位會員, 大家好 !

值此佳節前夕,祝福大家聖誕快樂!
同時, 轉載美國紐約太陽報社論1897/09/21,
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

秘書處 敬賀
-------- ---------------

20161223

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
這是美國新聞史上有名的一篇社論,雖然距今已有一百多年,但是,在美國,每當耶誕節來臨,各地的一些報紙、雜誌,總要重新刊登一次。
Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York 's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897.
The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in
dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

弗朗斯.比.恰奇(1897年9月21日紐約太陽報社論〕
Francis Pharcellus Church

親愛的主編:
我八歲。
我有一些朋友說:沒有聖誕老人。
爸爸說:“你去問太陽報,它說有,那就真的有了。”
拜託請告訴我真相;真的有聖誕老人嗎?
維吉尼亞
歐漢勞恩. 紐約市西95街115號

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 .

維吉尼亞,
你那些說沒有聖誕老人的朋友,是錯的。他們一定是受到現在流行的什麼都懷疑的風氣影響。他們只相信眼睛看得見的東西。他們不相信那些他們小小腦袋無法理解的東西。維吉尼亞,所有的腦袋,不管是大人的也好,小孩的也好,都是很小的。在這個廣袤無垠的宇宙中,所有的真相和知識,都在冥冥主宰的掌握中。相形之下,人類的智慧,就像一隻昆蟲、螞蟻一樣渺小狹隘。
VIRGINIA ,
your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia , whether they be men's or children's, are little. 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.

是的,維吉尼亞,真的有聖誕老人。就像愛、寬厚、奉獻是存在的一樣,聖誕老人也確確實實存在。
你知道,就是這世界上滿滿的愛、寬厚和誠實,讓你的生命充滿美好和喜樂。
唉呀!假如沒有聖誕老人,這個世界會讓人多沮喪!就像這世界沒有了像維吉尼亞一樣的孩子般地讓人沮喪。
這世上將不再有孩子般純真的信仰,沒有詩,也沒有浪漫的情懷,如此這般,此生還有何樂趣可言?
除了感官和眼睛所能及的事物外,我們將不再有樂趣。因童真而點燃的永恆之光,也將就此熄滅。
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. 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. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS . 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.

不相信有聖誕老人?那你就不相信有小精靈?你可以讓你爸爸請一個人在聖誕夜監看一下全紐約的煙囪,看能不能抓到聖誕老人。但是,即使看不到聖誕老人從煙囪裡鑽出來,那又能證明什麼呢?沒有人看過聖誕老人,那不表示沒有聖誕老人。這個世界上最真實的東西,不是那些孩子們和大人們能看見的東西。維吉尼亞,你看過小精靈在草地上跳舞嗎?肯定沒有,但那不能證明他們不在那裡。沒有一個人有能力杜撰或者憑空想像所有這些從沒被看過,也看不到的奇妙之事。
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? 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. 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.

你可以把小嬰兒玩的波浪鼓拆開來,看它的聲音是怎麼出來的;但是,有一層薄紗遮著那看不到的世界,不管有多大力氣的人,即使全世界的大力士一起合作,也掀不開那層薄紗。只有信仰、想像力、詩、愛、浪漫,才有能力掀開這層紗,向世人揭露那些超過感官和眼睛所能體會到的美好和壯麗。這些信仰、想像力、詩、愛、浪漫,都是真實的嗎?喔,維吉尼亞,在這個世界上,沒有比這些更真實和持久的東西了。
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. 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.

沒有聖誕老人?感謝上帝,聖誕老人是存在的,而且他會永遠存在。從現在起,一千年以後,維吉尼亞,不,一萬年以後,聖誕老人還是會繼續給那些有赤子之心的人帶來快樂。
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.

後記:
維吉尼亞後來成為一名教師。退休前在公立學校任校長,為孩子們奉獻。1971年,維吉尼亞81歲時去世。
《紐約時報》特意為她發了新聞,題為《聖誕老人的朋友》,文中介紹「美國新聞史上最著名的社論因她而誕生」。

File:FrancisPharcellusChurch.jpghttps://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b5/d6/94/b5d694981d8334ad5ea72a0bbf7e1cbd.jpghttp://image2.findagrave.com/photos/2012/201/10184308_134281022913.jpg


Note:
Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia , and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie , N.Y.
Francis Pharcellus Church & Virginia O' Hanlon
File:FrancisPharcellusChurch.jpg