【譯文】
——你們的樹看起來好漂亮。你們每年都這么布置嗎？
——是的。記得從我孩提時候開始這就是家里的傳統(tǒng)了。我們用一樣的燈泡和裝飾品；當(dāng)然，我們每年都用一棵新樹。（她遞給她一個精巧的玻璃球。）
——這些裝飾中有一部分是孩子們弄的。給，你可以把這個吊在一根高枝上。（Lo站在梯子上，伸手去夠高一點的大樹枝。）
——似乎一切都準(zhǔn)備就緒了。現(xiàn)在我們都希望的是下一場雪了。
——你們在早上交換禮物嗎？
——是的。孩子們興奮得迫不及待。我們把雜物打掃完——所有這些空盒子和包裝紙之后，我們就會吃團(tuán)圓早餐。然后，孩子們會有一整天的時間玩他們的新玩具。
——我們會在四點鐘左右吃火雞。我兄弟和他的家人也會來和我們共餐。
——我很希望見到他們。好了，太晚了，我要說再見了。明天我會一大早來看你們，那樣我就可以和你們分享圣誕早晨了。
——晚安！

2.  Christian’s Holiday.
Stewart:  Merry Christmas!
Mary:  Huh?
Stewart:  I said Merry Christmas!  Don't you know that Christmas is almost here?
Mary:  It is?  Oh, that's nice. 
Stewart:  Huh?  Didn't you know?  Aren't you excited?
Mary:  Actually, I'd forgotten about it. 
Stewart:  Forgotten about it?  How could you?
Mary:  Because I'm not Christian6, I'm Jewish7. 
Stewart:  Oh, I'm sorry.  I didn't know. 
Mary:  It's all right. There are so many Christians in America that everybody takes it for granted that I'm Christian.
Stewart:  I guess so.  So what do you do around this time of year?
Mary:  Well, I'll celebrate Hanukah soon, but that's not as important to us as Christmas is to you. Mainly I'll just enjoy the holiday break.
Stewart:  Well, would you be horribly offended8 if I invited you to a Christmas party at my house? 
Mary:  Not at all.  A party is a party.  I'll be happy to come.

Helpful Information： 
Christmas is an adaptation of the Pagan feast of Yule.  Originally celebrated by the Celtics of old Britain.  Christianity borrowed the idea and changed it to represent the supposed birthday of Jesus.  Few people actually know what the true origin of the holiday is.  Most people wrongly assume that Christmas has a complete Christian origin when it actually originated as a Pagan Holiday.

圣誕節(jié)是按照非異教徒猶太人的盛宴改換過來的。最初是由古老英國的凱爾特人慶祝。基督教借用了這個想法，并把它改為象征耶穌的出生日。很少有人真正知道這個假日的真正由來。大部分人錯誤地認(rèn)為圣誕節(jié)完完全全來自于基督教，而它實際上卻起源于一個非異教徒的節(jié)日。

【譯文】
——圣誕快樂！
—— 嗯？
——我說圣誕快樂！難道你不知道圣誕節(jié)快到了嗎？
——是嗎？哦，太好了。
——嗯？你難道不知道？難道你不興奮？
——我真的忘記了。
——忘記了？你怎能忘記了？
——因為我不是基督教徒，我是猶太人。
——哦，對不起，我不知道。
——沒關(guān)系。美國有這么多的基督教徒以致人人都認(rèn)為我也是一個基督教徒。
——我想是這樣。那么每年這個時候你都在做什么？
——唔，不久我要慶祝光明節(jié)，但是光明節(jié)對我們來說沒有圣誕節(jié)對你們那樣重要。我主要是好好享受這段假期。
——唔，如果我邀請你來我家參加圣誕聚會，你會很生氣嗎？
——一點也不。聚會是聚會。我會很高興來參加。

3.  Truth about Santa Claus.
Eddie:  So how's everything going for Christmas?
Jill:  I've got all the presents I need, and my family is working together to get all the food ready.  That's easy; but I have another problem to deal with.
Eddie:  What's that?  Don't tell me you've still got Christmas cards to write; it usually takes my wife a month to write all of ours.
Jill:  No, I did that a long time ago.  It's about telling my son the truth about Santa Claus.
Eddie:  He still doesn't know that Santa isn't real?  How old is he, eight?
Jill:  Yes.  He's never said anything so I never told him.  But now that he's getting older…
Eddie:  You think it's better that he should be told?
Jill:  Yes, he's too old to believe in that type of things.  And I'd rather tell him before the kids at school do.
Eddie:  That happened to my oldest girl.  She became really upset when her classmates told her Santa wasn't real.
Jill:  I can understand.  I was lucky with my oldest; she figured it out by herself and didn't tell my son. 
Eddie:  Well, when you tell him, be gentle.  It's hard for kids to find out something like that. 

《零距離美語會話[文化風(fēng)俗差異]Lesson3:HaveyouwrappedyourChristmas》永久閱讀地址: http://www.jiazhineng.cn/yingyu/1717/