用“谎话”装点圣诞

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[中国翻译家联盟 2002-12-5] 第160次点击

　　'So anyway, is Santa real or fake?' the smallest person in the house demanded of me last week.' Why? What have you been told?' I answered suspiciously.
　　'That he' s just a man dressed up.'
　　'Well...'
　　'And that' s his beard is fake.'
　　'Mmmm...'
　　'And that his elves aren't elves -- they' re just little kids that have stopped growing.'
　　'No, I don' t think that' s right,' I said.
　　'So what' s the story, Mum?'
　　Well, what's the story indeed?Is the story that I will inevitably continue my own parents' convincing Santa fable? The one about Santa being a ubiquitous frequenter of suburban shopping malls around December, a hoarder6 of toys and all-seeing judge-and-jury of bad behavior? The one about him sneaking down the chimney we don't have on Christmas Eve, devouring1 one or two bikkies and half-a-dozen stubbies before depositing decent gifts for the kids of the house who's just pulled off an 11th-hour bout of exceptional behavior? Is that what I'll say?
　　Or will I come clean on this increasingly outdated fabrication? Will I save myself from my daughter's potential scorn when, at the age of nine or ten, she discovers her mother's pants are very definitely on fire? And if so, will my rather straight-shooting four-year-old daughter be able to contain herself from spilling the beans to those among her little friends whose parents have worked very, very hard to pull the whole lie off without incident? (I seriously doubt it.)
　　Perhaps, then, I'll invent a new tradition, a quaint and harmless compromise between the myth and the reality of Christmas. Perhaps it' ll be something about there existing a Christmas ' angel,' an invisible being that is really the spirit of the festive season; who, through love and kindness and a touch of magic, inspires families to share gifts, fine food, good times and year-long grudges about who got drunk and broke the fountain in the front garden.
　　Whatever my final story, I hope I at least succeed in making Christmas a special time for my daughter, one that she counts down the sleeps to each year and looks upon with excitement and tinsel-tinged wonder. I hope she grows up to love Bing Crosby's White Christmas. I hope she shares my love of living, lopsided Christmas trees obtained via dubious means. I hope she wants to make her own decorations out of Cornflakes packets and mountains of alfoil. But most of all, I hope she realizes that Christmas is not about receiving; it' s about giving.
　　'圣诞老人到底是真的还是假的?'家里最小的孩子上周问我。'怎么啦?谁跟你说过什么吗?'我疑惑地答道。

　　'他不过是个人装扮的而已!'

　　'这……'

　　'而且，连他的胡子都是假的。'

　　'嗯……'

　　'还有他身边的小精灵根本就不是什么精灵，只不过是不再长高的小孩子。'

　　'哪儿的话，我可不这么想，'我说。

　　'那么，妈妈，圣诞老人到底是怎么一回事呢?'

　　是啊，到底是怎么一回事呢?难道我一定也要重复父辈的讲述，继续让孩子相信圣诞老人的神话吗?还是说那个每到12月份就到处现身、频繁光顾郊区购物中心的就是圣诞老人?或者说圣诞老人收藏着无数玩具，并且对不良行为无不知晓?要么就说，圣诞老人总是在圣诞夜钻进那个我们家并不存在的烟囱悄然而至，在吞下一两块小饼干、喝上6小瓶啤酒之后，为那些颇不寻常地熬夜到11点的孩子们送上精美礼物。难道这就是我要讲的吗?

　　难道我该把这个越来越老套的虚构故事和盘托出?难道我该让自己不致在某一天遭到女儿的嘲笑，等她长大到9岁或10岁时，看出她妈妈的难堪窘状?果真如此，我这个心直口快的4岁大的女儿会克制自己不泄露给她的那些小伙伴们吗?要知道，那些小伙伴的父母煞费苦心，才让自己的孩子相信了全部谎话而未露一丝破绽。(我实在是心存疑虑。)

　　那么，或许我要编造一个有关圣诞节的新的、离奇而又无伤大雅、介于真实与神话传说之间的折中说法吧。譬如说确实有这样一位圣?quot;天使'，一个节日期间的隐身仙人。他通过爱心与慈善，再加上一点魔法，使家家户户共享礼物、美食、欢乐时光，并消除大家一年的类似于谁喝醉后弄坏了前花园的喷泉这样的积怨。

　　不论我最终跟她讲些什么，我希望至少我能让我的女儿感觉到圣诞是一段特殊的日子，一段她会日夜期盼、带着兴奋与想像翘首以待的日子。我希望她长大之后会喜爱宾·克罗斯比的《白色的圣诞节》这支歌。我希望她能像我一样地喜爱那些颇费周折才搞到的向一边倾斜的活的圣诞树。我希望她会用装玉米片的包装盒和无数铝箔片自己动手制作装饰物。然而最重要的是，我希望她明白圣诞节并不意味着接受，而是意味着给予。