A Letter from a Child
世界上有沒有聖誕老人?
28 TUE
The year was 1897, and an eight-year-old New Yorker named Virginia O’Hanlon had an urgent question. Her little friends had told her that Santa Claus did not exist, and she was torn; she did not know what to believe. When she asked her father whether or not this was true, he passed the buck. He told her, “If you see it in The Sun, then it is so.”
The Sun was a New York newspaper, and Virginia sent a letter to the publisher. It was a simple, short correspondence that stated the question very clearly: “Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?” While it may not have been a pressing question to the editorial board at the newspaper, one distinguished newsman, Francis Pharcellus Church, took the time to answer her question.
On Tuesday, September 21, 1897, The Sun published Virginia’s letter. However, the answer was not a quick editorial reply to what could have been viewed as a childish topic. Instead, it was his thoughtful and meaningful embrace of the question that would eventually make it one of the most reprinted editorials in history. It was headlined with the words “Is There a Santa Claus?”
29 WED
What Church wrote has touched the hearts of millions of people. His reply began, “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.” He went on to say that people only believe what they see. Their minds are small, he said, and they refuse to believe anything that they cannot understand.
After giving this introduction, Church then gave the famous words that are heard over and over in a decisive answer to her question. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” he wrote. “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.” Life would not be enjoyable, and the world would be dreary without a Santa Claus. “There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.”
Church’s answer to Virginia’s question was a message of optimism in a world filled with hardship and despair. He wrote of hope, dreams, and the wonder held in all of our lives. It was a call to once again recognize and cherish the beauty that exists in the innocence of children who, above all, know the true spirit of Christmas.
A Letter from a Child
世界上有沒有聖誕老人?
28 TUE
一八九七年,一位名叫小維吉妮亞.歐韓倫的八歲紐約女孩有個迫切的問題。她的朋友告訴她聖誕老人並不存在,這讓她無所適從;她不知道還有什麼東西能相信。她問父親聖誕老人是不是真的不存在時,她父親把問題推給別人。他告訴她:「如果妳在《太陽報》看到他們這麼寫,那就是真的。」
《太陽報》是紐約的地方報社,維吉妮亞寄了封信給這家報社。信的內容言簡意賅地提出問題:「請告訴我實話,世界上有聖誕老人嗎?」雖然對報社編輯部來說這個問題可能不是什麼需要馬上處理的事,不過一名叫做法蘭西斯.法西留斯.邱奇的傑出記者卻認真地回答了維吉妮亞的問題。
《太陽報》在一八九七年九月二十一日星期二這天刊出了維吉妮亞的信。回信內容並不是編輯部對一個看來幼稚的問題所做的草率回答。相反地,這是邱奇以深思熟慮、意義非凡的態度對維吉妮亞的回覆,這讓這篇文章最終成為史上再版次數最高的社論之一。文章的標題是「聖誕老人真的存在嗎?」
29 WED
邱奇的文章觸動了數百萬人的心靈。他的文章開頭寫道:「維吉妮亞,妳的朋友錯了。他們受到這多疑年代下懷疑主義的影響。」邱奇接著表示人們只相信眼見為憑。這些人的心胸狹隘,拒絕相信自己無法理解的事物。
寫完引言後,邱奇接著給了維吉妮亞的問題一個果斷且反覆出現的著名回答:「是的,維吉妮亞,世界上有聖誕老人。」邱奇寫道:「他就和愛、慷慨、奉獻一樣存在人間,而且你知道這些價值充斥在我們生活中、給予你的生命無限美好與喜樂。」如果沒有聖誕老人,生命就不再有趣,這個世界會變得枯燥乏味。「屆時就不再有單純的信念、沒有詩歌、沒有浪漫愛情,生存於世也會因此變得難以忍受。」
在一個充滿困苦、絕望的世界中,邱奇對維吉妮亞問題的答覆帶有滿樂觀主義的訊息。他道出了希望、夢想,以及存在於我們所有人生活中的驚奇。邱奇的文章呼籲人們應再次體認並珍惜那存在於最了解聖誕真諦的孩童心中的純真美麗。
《 詳細內文請翻閱NO.73 十二月號ALL+互動英語雜誌 》
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A Letter from a Child
世界上有沒有聖誕老人?
28 TUE
The year was 1897, and an eight-year-old New Yorker named Virginia O’Hanlon had an urgent question. Her little friends had told her that Santa Claus did not exist, and she was torn; she did not know what to believe. When she asked her father whether or not this was true, he passed the buck. He told her, “If you see it in The Sun, then it is so.”
The Sun was a New York newspaper, and Virginia sent a letter to the publisher. It was a simple, short correspondence that stated the question very clearly: “Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?” While it may not have been a pressing question to the editorial board at the newspaper, one distinguished newsman, Francis Pharcellus Church, took the time to answer her question.
On Tuesday, September 21, 1897, The Sun published Virginia’s letter. However, the answer was not a quick editorial reply to what could have been viewed as a childish topic. Instead, it was his thoughtful and meaningful embrace of the question that would eventually make it one of the most reprinted editorials in history. It was headlined with the words “Is There a Santa Claus?”
29 WED
What Church wrote has touched the hearts of millions of people. His reply began, “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.” He went on to say that people only believe what they see. Their minds are small, he said, and they refuse to believe anything that they cannot understand.
After giving this introduction, Church then gave the famous words that are heard over and over in a decisive answer to her question. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” he wrote. “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.” Life would not be enjoyable, and the world would be dreary without a Santa Claus. “There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.”
Church’s answer to Virginia’s question was a message of optimism in a world filled with hardship and despair. He wrote of hope, dreams, and the wonder held in all of our lives. It was a call to once again recognize and cherish the beauty that exists in the innocence of children who, above all, know the true spirit of Christmas.
A Letter from a Child
世界上有沒有聖誕老人?
28 TUE
一八九七年,一位名叫小維吉妮亞.歐韓倫的八歲紐約女孩有個迫切的問題。她的朋友告訴她聖誕老人並不存在,這讓她無所適從;她不知道還有什麼東西能相信。她問父親聖誕老人是不是真的不存在時,她父親把問題推給別人。他告訴她:「如果妳在《太陽報》看到他們這麼寫,那就是真的。」
《太陽報》是紐約的地方報社,維吉妮亞寄了封信給這家報社。信的內容言簡意賅地提出問題:「請告訴我實話,世界上有聖誕老人嗎?」雖然對報社編輯部來說這個問題可能不是什麼需要馬上處理的事,不過一名叫做法蘭西斯.法西留斯.邱奇的傑出記者卻認真地回答了維吉妮亞的問題。
《太陽報》在一八九七年九月二十一日星期二這天刊出了維吉妮亞的信。回信內容並不是編輯部對一個看來幼稚的問題所做的草率回答。相反地,這是邱奇以深思熟慮、意義非凡的態度對維吉妮亞的回覆,這讓這篇文章最終成為史上再版次數最高的社論之一。文章的標題是「聖誕老人真的存在嗎?」
29 WED
邱奇的文章觸動了數百萬人的心靈。他的文章開頭寫道:「維吉妮亞,妳的朋友錯了。他們受到這多疑年代下懷疑主義的影響。」邱奇接著表示人們只相信眼見為憑。這些人的心胸狹隘,拒絕相信自己無法理解的事物。
寫完引言後,邱奇接著給了維吉妮亞的問題一個果斷且反覆出現的著名回答:「是的,維吉妮亞,世界上有聖誕老人。」邱奇寫道:「他就和愛、慷慨、奉獻一樣存在人間,而且你知道這些價值充斥在我們生活中、給予你的生命無限美好與喜樂。」如果沒有聖誕老人,生命就不再有趣,這個世界會變得枯燥乏味。「屆時就不再有單純的信念、沒有詩歌、沒有浪漫愛情,生存於世也會因此變得難以忍受。」
在一個充滿困苦、絕望的世界中,邱奇對維吉妮亞問題的答覆帶有滿樂觀主義的訊息。他道出了希望、夢想,以及存在於我們所有人生活中的驚奇。邱奇的文章呼籲人們應再次體認並珍惜那存在於最了解聖誕真諦的孩童心中的純真美麗。
《 詳細內文請翻閱NO.73 十二月號ALL+互動英語雜誌 》
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