The History of Christmas Cards

□劉曉妮

雖然圣誕節(jié)是西方的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日，但中國的年輕人一直特別熱衷于過圣誕節(jié)。圣誕前夕，商家為賺取消費者的眼球，在商店里陳列各種圣誕樹和琳瑯滿目的圣誕禮物。同學(xué)們之間會通過互相寄送各種圣誕卡來慶祝圣誕節(jié)。那關(guān)于圣誕卡，大家又了解多少呢？

The tradition of sending Christmas cards was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole.He was very interested in the new“Public Post Office”and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.

送圣誕卡片的傳統(tǒng)興起于1843年英國的亨利·克勒爵士。他對新的“公共郵局”很感興趣，并想知道它怎樣能更多地被普通人使用。

wonder vt.驚奇；對……感到好奇；感到詫異；想弄明白

adj.奇妙的；欽佩的；遠(yuǎn)超過預(yù)期的

n.奇跡；驚奇；奇觀；奇人

Sir Henry had the idea of Christmas cards with his friend John Horsley,who was an artist.They designed the first card.About 1,000 were printed and sold.They are now very rare and cost thousands of pounds or dollars now!

亨利爵士是一個藝術(shù)家，和他的朋友約翰·霍斯利有了共同制作圣誕卡的想法。他們設(shè)計了第一張卡片，約1000張卡片被印刷和出售。它們現(xiàn)在非常稀有，價值數(shù)千英鎊或美元！

rare adj.罕見的，特殊的；優(yōu)秀的，不尋常的

The first postal service that ordinary people could use was started in 1840.Before that,only very rich people could afford to send anythinginthemail.Cards becameevenmorepopular intheUKwhenthey could be mailed for half the price of an ordinary letter.

普通人可以使用的第一個郵政服務(wù)是從1840年開始的。在此之前，只有非常有錢的人才可以支付得起任何郵寄的東西。當(dāng)郵寄卡片只需支付郵寄普通信的一半價格時，卡片在英國變得更加流行和受歡迎。

afford vt.提供；買得起；擔(dān)負(fù)得起；給予

As printing methods improved,Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers from about 1860.By 1870 the cost of sending a post card,and also Christmas cards,had dropped a lot.This meant even more people were able to send cards.By the early 1900s,the tradition had spread over Europe and had become especially popular in Germany.

隨著印刷方法的改進(jìn)，圣誕卡變得越來越受歡迎，并從1860年開始大批量地生產(chǎn)。到了1870年，郵寄一張明信片或者圣誕卡的費用，已經(jīng)降低了很多，這意味著更多的人能夠寄送卡片了。到了20世紀(jì)初，這種習(xí)俗已經(jīng)傳遍歐洲，在德國尤其受歡迎。

spreadvt.&vi.展開；伸開；（使）傳播；（使）散布

In the 1910s and 1920s,homemade cards became popular.They were usually too delicate to be sent through the mail and were given by hand.

在20世紀(jì)初，自制卡片走紅。它們通常太精致，以至于人們不通過郵件發(fā)送，而是親手送出。

delicateadj.微妙的；熟練的；纖弱的；易損的

Nowadays,cards have all kinds of pictures on them:jokes,winter pictures,Santa Claus or romantic scenes of life in past times.Charities often sell their own Christmas cards as a way of raising money at Christmas.

如今，卡片上印有各種各樣的圖片：笑話集錦、冬天的圖片，圣誕老人亦或是浪漫的生活場景。慈善機(jī)構(gòu)往往把在圣誕節(jié)出售自己的圣誕卡作為一種籌集資金的方式。

charityn.慈善（行為）；施舍，捐助；慈善機(jī)關(guān)；仁愛，寬容