“圣诞礼物”

Christmas Gifts

圣诞礼物

I never believed in Santa Claus. None of us kids did. Mom and Dad refused to let us.

我从不相信圣诞老人。我们几个孩子都一样。母亲和父亲不让我们相信。

They couldn't afford expensive presents and they didn't want us to think we weren't as good as other kids who, on Christmas morning, found all sorts of fancy toys under the tree that were supposedly（据说） left by Santa Claus.

他们负担不起昂贵的礼物，也不想让我们觉得自己不如别的孩子好，别的孩子会在圣诞节的早晨发现据说是圣诞老人放在树下的各种精美玩具。

Dad had lost his job, and when Christmas came that year, we had no money at all. On Christmas Eve, Dad took each one of us kids out into the desert night one by one.

父亲丢了工作，当去年圣诞节来临时，我们已经一贫如洗。平安夜的晚上，父亲把我们几个孩子一个个带到废墟上。

“Pick out your favorite star,” Dad said.

“挑一个你最喜欢的星星吧，” 父亲说。

“I like that one!” I said.

“我喜欢那个！” 我说。

Dad grinned, “that's Venus（金星）”, he said. He explained to me that planets glowed because reflected light was constant and stars twinkled because their light pulsed.

父亲笑了。“那是金星”，他说。他向我解释行星发光是因为反射光持续不断，星星闪烁是因为光的脉冲。

“I like it anyway,” I said.

“不管怎样，我都喜欢它。” 我说。

“What the hell,” Dad said. “It's Christmas. You can have a planet if you want.”

“管他呢，” 父亲说。“今天是圣诞节。如果你想，你可以拥有一颗自己的星星。”

And he gave me Venus.

所以他把金星给了我。

Venus didn't have any moons or satellites（卫星） or even a magnetic field, but it did have an atmosphere（大气） sort of similar to Earth's, except it was super hot — about 500 degrees or more.

金星没有卫星，甚至没有磁场，但是它有和地球相似的大气层，只是它非常热，大约500度，甚至更高。

“So,” Dad said, “when the sun starts to burn out and the Earth turns cold, everyone might want to move to Venus to get warm. And they'll have to get permission from your descendants（后代） first."

“所以，” 父亲说，“当太阳燃烧殆尽，地球变冷的时候，每个人都会想搬到金星去取暖。那么他们都不得不首先征得你们后代的许可。”

We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa myth and got nothing for Christmas but a bunch of cheap plastic toys.

我们嘲笑那些相信圣诞传说的孩子们，他们在圣诞节除了一堆廉价的塑料玩具之外，什么都没有得到。

“Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,” Dad said, “you'll still have your stars.”

“在今后的岁月里，当他们所有的玩具都变得破旧并被长久遗忘时，” 父亲说：“你们依然拥有属于你们的星星。”

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