Lesson 4 Christmas
第四课 圣诞节
Memories of Christmas
圣诞节的回忆
For me, Christmas always began in the middle of the cold, windy month of November.
圣诞节对我来说总是始于寒冷多风的11月中旬。
My sister, Alison, and I sat down in front of the fire
我和姐姐爱丽丝坐在火炉前，
and wrote a letter to Father Christmas telling him about all the presents we wanted.
给圣诞老人写信，把所有我们想要的礼物都告诉他。
We seriously wrote "Father Christmas, the North Pole" on the envelope, before giving them to our mother to post.
我们把信交给妈妈邮寄前，在信封上认真地写上“圣诞老人，北极”。
With December our excitement grew each day -
12月到来，我们一天比一天兴奋—
as we opened the new year calendar, Christmas cards arrived in the post,
我们打开新年日历，信箱里寄来了圣诞贺卡，
Christmas lights appeared in the streets, and we attended the town carol service.
街上挂起了圣诞灯，我们参加圣诞诗歌礼拜。
And of course, there was snow everywhere.
当然，到处都是雪。
Enough snow to make snowmen, and to have exciting snowball fights in the school playground.
雪多得足够我们在学校操场上堆雪人、令人兴奋地打雪仗。
On Christmas Eve, the whole family helped to decorate the house,
圣诞前夜，全家帮忙装饰房间，
put up the Christmas tree, the decorations and the balloons.
布置圣诞树、装饰，吹起气球。
Then, in the afternoon, when Auntie Kathleen and my two cousins arrived, everything was ready.
之后到了下午，凯思琳姨妈和我的两个表兄弟来了，万事都准备妥当。
Before we went to bed, we left some wine and biscuits for Father Christmas
上床之前，我们为圣诞老人留下一些葡萄酒和小点心，
and then put our stockings at the end of our beds.
然后把袜子放在床边。