The Truth about Santa Claus

Kendall: (on TV) Your parents will tell you he’s real because they love you. They want you to enjoy the myth of 1) “ho ho ho” and sugar plums and 2)elves. They’ll tell all the lies to you that their parents told to them because they want to surround you with the magic feeling that goes with Christmas. And it’s all right to pretend along with your parents that there really is such as thing as Santa Claus. Enjoy it like a good story much as you would Jack 1 in the Beanstalk or the Easter Bunny or Peter Pan. But no giant is going to fall out of the sky 3)chasing a golden goose. No rabbit’s going to 4)sneak 2 into your house with chocolate eggs, and there won’t be any Santa Claus coming down your 5)chimney for real. This is Kendal Stevens.

(In the court)

Lawyer 1: 6)Shattered quite a few myths there, Kendal.

Kendall: Any child old enough to be watching the news probably already knows and if not, he or she should.

Lawyer 1: Why?

Kendall: Because at some point he’s going to know. And if the news comes from an older 7)sibling 3 or another kid at school, it won’t be broken gently. I remember the day I found out. It was a huge 8)betrayal. My parents had lied to me. My son --- when he found out at the age of seven from an older kid at school, he came home, he looked at me, he said, “I trusted you.” And I realized this is a fundamental lie to children.

Child: I was playing with my toys on the 9)rug. I wasn’t really watching the TV. And then I heard Santa Claus. I looked up. That’s when I heard it.

Lawyer 2: Tell us what you heard, Jacob.

Child: I heard that man say there was no Santa Claus.

Lawyer 2: OK, and can you tell us how that made you feel?

Child: [sobbing sadly]

Lawyer 2: How old are you, Jacob?

Child: I’m eight.

Lawyer 2: Eight, wow. What are you first grade? Second?

Child: Third.

Lawyer 2: Third! So you read, do math and you look like a smart kid. Ever been in an airplane, Jacob?

Child: Yeah, last year I went to Disneyland in California. It was a jet.

Lawyer 2: A jet! I bet a jet goes fast.

Child: 700 miles per hour.

Lawyer 2: Woosh! Jacob, truthfully, when you heard Mr. Stevens’ broadcast, you already knew there was no Santa, didn’t you?

Child: No, I did not!

Lawyer 2: No need to get loud, sweetheart. You thought Santa delivered presents to all over the world?

Child: On Christmas Eve.

Lawyer 2: So it takes a jet going 700 miles per hour, six hours just to fly across one country, and you thought eight tiny 10)reindeer 4 could 11)lug 5 this big 12)sled all over the world in one night? Isn’t that a little 13)dopey to think that, Jacob?

Child: Well...

Lawyer 2: Can we talk about the size of Santa’s bag? That little 14)sack has enough toys for 300 million children? Are you 15)retarded, Jacob?

Lawyer 3: 16)Objection!

Lawyer 2: I’m just trying to find out what the boy believed. He seems really smart. (to the kid) You really thought one fat old man living on the North Pole was making toys for every single child on earth to be carried in one bag, one sleigh, delivered in one night?

Child: Well, I know it’s a little 17)dubious 6...

Lawyer 2: How about, “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake”?

Child: Yeah, I always kind of wondered about that.

Lawyer 2: “Knows if you’ve been bad or good”?

Child: Umm...

Lawyer 2: What about 18)Rudolph’s nose cutting through the fog?

Child: Oh, I never believed that.

Lawyer 2: Ever wonder why all those toys Santa makes with his midget friends look exactly like the ones you see at Toy’s-R-Us?

Child: It’s a little suspicious.

Lawyer 2: And what does Santa do when he gets to 19)Florida? Lots of snow there for his sleigh, right, Jacob?

Lawyer 1: Objection!

Lawyer 2: Jacob, you seem intelligent. I want you to tell us what you really think of the idea of Santa Claus?

Child: It’s stupid!

Lawyer 1: (concluding) Where was the evidence that any child got hurt? Well, Mr. Stark 7 called his own grandson into action. But the reality is that when kids do get hurt on this, it doesn’t go to reveal that there’s no Santa Claus. It’s to reveal that maybe their parents lied to them. Kendall Stevens, he was really 20)counseling children not to feel 21)betrayed by this 22)deception 8. And he was also saying, let your parents 23)indulge this 24)illusion. But why? Well, because the fact is that we need Santa Claus much more than kids do. We’re out there living in the real world and it’s 25)harsh. We’re exposed to ugly truths. We bear witness to evidence that dreams don’t always come true, and when December comes along, it’s nice. It’s nice to 26)cling to Santa and all he represents to relive the 27)innocence 9 of childhood. To 28)recapture those feelings of joy and magic and song, things that have long since left us. Santa is a device for the parents sometimes to experience the love and the gift of a child. And we need it. What the child actually needs is love and trust and yes, the magic of his parents. And it was that 29)sacred 30)union which Kendall Stevens was trying to safeguard with his broadcast. Knowing that a child 31)craves the honesty of Mom and Dad a hell of a lot more than he needs the illusion of old Saint Nick coming down a chimney. The 32)severance 11 of parent and child and their 33)mutual 12 trust, that’s the tragedy Kendall Stevens was trying to address. He decides to tell the world there’s no Santa Claus. He exposes the station to tremendous bad will and he does so knowing that it is against the wishes and interests of the station. He 34)violates the trust of his employer. So of course we have the right to35)terminate him.CE

肯德尔：（电视讲话）你的父母说圣诞老人是真的，因为他们爱你。他们希望你喜欢圣诞老人、糖李子和小妖精的神话。他们还会撒谎告诉你说这些都是他们的父母告诉他们的，因为他们希望你能体会到圣诞节的神奇气氛。不过你也可以假装相信父母的话，把圣诞老人当真。就把那当做是一个好听的故事吧，像相信《豌豆的故事》中的杰克、复活节兔子和彼得·潘一样。不过不会有什么巨人从天而降追赶金鹅。没有什么拿着巧克力蛋潜入你屋子的兔子，也不存在什么从烟囱爬下来的圣诞老人。这里是肯德尔·史蒂文斯报道。

（法庭上）

律师1∶粉碎了不少童话呢，肯德尔。

肯德尔∶能看懂新闻的大孩子或许都已经知道了，如果没有的话，那么他们应该知道。

律师1：为什么？

肯德尔：因为他迟早会知道。如果他是从哥哥姐姐或学校里其他孩子口中得知的真相，打击一定不小。我还记得我了解真相的那一天。像是给彻底背叛了似的。我的父母竟然骗了我。我儿子——他七岁时从学校一个大孩子那儿知道真相后，他回家来看着我说：“我从前是那么信任你。”于是我发现，这对孩子们是个天大的谎话。

孩子∶当时我在地毯上玩玩具。我没怎么看电视。然后我听到在说圣诞老人。我抬起头看。就听到了。

律师2∶告诉我们你听到了什么，雅各。

孩子∶我听到那个人说没有圣诞老人。

律师2∶好吧，那你能不能告诉我们听了之后有什么感觉？

孩子：[伤心啜泣]

律师2∶你多大了，雅各？

孩子：八岁了。

律师2∶八岁，不得了。你是念一年级吗？还是二年级？

孩子∶三年级。

律师2∶三年级！那么说你会识字会算术了，你看起来是个聪明的孩子。你搭过飞机吗，雅各？

孩子∶搭过，去年我上加州的迪斯尼乐园。搭的是喷气机。

律师2∶喷气机！我说喷气机一定飞得很快吧。

孩子∶每小时700英里。

律师2∶呼！雅各，说实话，你听到史蒂文斯先生的报道时，早已知道是没有圣诞老人的了，是不是？

孩子∶不，我并不知道！

律师2∶别喊那么大声嘛，亲爱的。你曾以为圣诞老人给全世界派发礼物吗？

孩子∶在圣诞前夜。

律师2∶那么说来，一架喷气机每小时飞700英里，六小时才飞完一个国家，而你却认为八头小小的驯鹿能在一夜间拖着雪橇走完全世界？那么想岂不是有点笨吗，雅各？

孩子∶唔……

律师2∶我们不如再来看看圣诞老人的袋子大小的问题。这个小布袋够装下送给三亿孩子的玩具？你是不是弱智，雅各？

律师3∶反对！

律师2∶我不过是想看看这男孩相信什么。他似乎真很聪明。（对孩子说）你难道真的相信一个住在北极的胖老头为地球上的每个孩子都做了玩具，这些玩具全装在一个袋子里，用一个雪橇一夜之间就发送完毕吗？

孩子∶这个，我知道是有点让人怀疑……

律师2∶那么这句歌词呢，“你睡觉时他看着你，你醒过来他也知道”？

孩子：是啊，我也常纳闷呢。

律师2∶“他知道你是淘气还是听话”？

孩子∶唔……

律师2∶关于鲁道夫的鼻子可以划破雾气呢？

孩子∶我从来不相信。

律师2∶你有没有想过，圣诞老人和他的朋友小矮子做出来的玩具怎么会跟你在玩具城里看到的一模一样？

孩子∶是挺奇怪的。

律师2∶圣诞老人要去了佛罗里达怎么办呢？那里有足够让他滑雪橇的雪吗，对不对，雅各？

律师1：反对！

律师2：雅各，你非常聪明。我想让你告诉我们，你对圣诞老人的说法怎么看？

孩子：那是愚蠢的！

律师1：（总结陈词）孩子们受到伤害的证据在哪儿呢？斯达克先生让自己的孙子来现身说法。而现实是，孩子们的确因此受到了伤害，但受到伤害并不表明圣诞老人不存在。那也许表明的是孩子们的父母撒了谎。肯德尔·史蒂文斯是在游说孩子们不为谎言而感受遭到了背叛。他还说，让你的父母沉溺于此幻想吧。可为什么呢？原因在于事实是，我们比孩子们更需要圣诞老人。我们生活在严酷的真实世界里。我们赤裸面对丑恶事实。我们目击实据，发现梦想并非总能成真，而当十二月到来，那可好了。好的是我们有圣诞老人可依赖，他所代表的意义是在童真中舒缓自己。重新体验我们疏远了的欢乐、魔幻、歌曲等事物。圣诞老人是父母的工具，以不时地去感受孩子的爱与赠礼。而且我们也需要他。其实孩子们需要的是爱与信任，是的，还有父母的魔术。肯德尔·史蒂文斯的播音竭力去维护的正是这种神圣的凝聚。他知道孩子们更渴望父母的诚实，远甚于需要知道圣诞老人爬下烟囱的童话。父母与孩子间失去了相互信任，那正是肯德尔·史蒂文斯想要指出的悲剧。他决意告诉全世界没有圣诞老人。他使电视台负上恶意的罪名，他也知道这么做是违反了电视台的愿望和利益的。他辜负了雇主对他的信任。所以我们理当处罚他。CE

1) "ho-ho-ho"是圣诞老人的常用措辞

2) elves [elvz] n. 侏儒，小矮人

3) chase [tFeis] v. 追赶

4) sneak [sni:k] v. 偷偷地做事

5) chimney [5tFimni] n. 烟囱

6) shatter [5AtEr] v. 粉碎

7) sibling [5sibliN] n. 兄弟姐妹

8) betrayal [bi5teiEl] n. 背叛

9) rug [rQg] n. 小地毯，小垫子

10) reindeer [5reindiEr]n. 驯鹿

11) lug [lQg] v. 拖，拉

12) sled [sled]n. 雪橇       

13) dopey [5dEupi]a. 笨，迟钝

14) sack [sAk] n. 大袋，麻布袋

15) retarded[ri5ta:did] a. 智力迟钝的

16) objection [Eb5dVkEn] n. 反对

17) dubious [5dju:biEs] a. 可疑的，不确定的

18) Rudolph是圣诞老人其中一只驯鹿的名字。

19) Florida是美国南部一州，是以美国著名的度假胜地。

20) counsel [5kaunsEl] v. 劝告，忠告

21) betray [bi5trei] v. 背叛

22) deception [di5sepFEn] n. 欺骗，诡计

23) indulge [in5dQldV] v. 纵容

24) illusion [i5lu:VEn] n. 幻想

25) harsh [ha:] a. 严酷的，苛刻的

26) cling to 依靠，坚持

27) innocence [5inEsEn] n. 无邪，纯真

28) recapture [ri:5kAptFEr] v. 取回，再体验

29) sacred [5seikrid] a. 神圣的

30) union [5ju:njEn] n. 联合，结合

31) crave 10 [kreiv] v. 恳求，渴望

32) severance [5sevErEns] n. 中断

33) mutual [5mju:tjuEl] a. 相互的

34) violate [5vaiEleit] v. 违反，妨碍

35) terminate [5tE:mineit] v. 结束，终止