[精品译文推荐]圣诞过节不送礼!

muzhe

来源The Case Against Buying Christmas Presents
译者lesliebingo

6 D2 ]/ o2 B3 M& [6 D    I love Christmas. I love the snow-themed everything, even when I was living on tropical Guam, and Santa and elves and reindeer and snowmen and candy canes. Yes, I even love the non-stop playing of Christmas music for two months.
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我很喜欢圣诞节，喜欢和雪有关的一切，即使住在炎热的关岛也不例外。圣诞老公公，淘气精灵，驯鹿，小雪人，糖果拐杖都令我着迷。没错！甚至对圣诞月里播个不停的圣诞音乐我都情有独钟。
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) X$ l% t( ?5 W) }' \, O    Most of all, I love getting together with my family — eating Christmas cookies, singing Christmas carols together, gossiping and laughing at each other. It’s tremendous fun.

最重要的是，我喜欢家人相聚的时光—吃着圣诞节饼干，一起唱圣诞颂歌，相互八卦，开怀大笑。没什么比这更有趣了。

% r; |+ y1 T1 u' O    I don’t love Christmas shopping, or the overconsumption, frenzied malls, consumer debt, environmental waste, wasted time wrapping, and over-accumulation of needless stuff that goes with it.

但我可不喜欢圣诞购物，和圣诞购物意味着过度购物。商店里人头攒动，疯了一般，卡都刷爆了。垃圾和一大推不知所谓的东西也都随之而来，还要费劲时间弄包装。

    Bah humbug! I love Christmas, but the shopping has got to go. Here’s why. Warning: This will be a rant of near-epic proportions.
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( l+ r9 e6 K' N- N" n去你的，都是骗子！我喜欢圣诞节，但购物可就免了吧。我来说说原因。事先声明：我这文章长度可快和史诗差不多了。
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+ f, z# h( E) S    1. The focus is on buying, not on sharing. I love the idea of giving to people you love, but that idea has been twisted. Now people go out in a mad rush to shop, like ravenous vampires feasting on new blood. We shop for a month, rip apart the packaging one morning, and then forget about it the next day. Is this about giving, or buying?
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7 Y- Y9 {9 @' b" l: k1。圣诞购物的重点是买，并不是分享。将自己的爱给予别人，我很欣赏，但这个概念给扭曲了。现在人们都加入到疯狂购物的大军中，和贪婪的吸血鬼饕餮着鲜血无异。我们花一个月的时间在买东西上，收到礼物的人在某天早上撕开打开包装，然后第二天就忘得干干净净了。这是给予吗？还是单纯的购物？

    2. Giving is great, but buying is not the solution. Again, I’m in love with giving … but do we need to buy to give? We seem to think that buying is the solution to any problem, but that has lead to a society that is deeply in debt and piled high with needless stuff. We can find other ways to give: bake cookies, wash someone’s car, babysit so they can go on a date night, create a photo album, be there when they need help moving.

5 h) |) z# k3 r0 M: j) R3 u( U2. 给予值得赞扬，但买东西并非解决之道。再次强调，我认为给予本身很好...但我们需要先买后给吗？我们似乎把购物看成了所有问题的解决方式，但这已经让我们的社会债台高筑，无用之物随处可见。我们可以通过别的方式给予：亲手烤饼干；帮助别人洗洗车；帮已婚夫妇带宝宝，这样他们能度过一个浪漫的夜晚；制作一本相册集；或者在别人搬家时伸出援助之手。

: i/ \8 n  K" ], B5 Q8 W( g; h+ B1 G* e% {    3. The waste, oh the waste. Let’s start with packaging: the packaging for every toy is double the volume of the toy itself. From cardboard to plastic to metal twist-ties, it’s ridiculous. Then every item we buy must be brought home in bags. We often put everything in boxes. Then we buy wrapping paper and wrap it all up. All of this gets thrown away on Christmas day. Finally, there’s the gift itself — people get so much stuff they can’t possibly treasure everything. So it goes into the closet to be forgotten.

3. 浪费，浪费呀！先从包装开始说：每个玩具的外包装本事就是玩具的两倍。外面是一层厚纸板，里面包层塑料，还要有金属匝线，简直荒唐可笑。而且，我们买的每样东西还都要再加个袋子拎回家。我们把所有东西都放在盒子里，然后买包装纸把它们包起来。但所有这些包装都在圣诞节当天变成了垃圾。最后，说到礼物本身— 每个人都收到太多东西，不可能样样珍惜。所以它就被放到了柜橱里，再难见天日了。
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' |, P7 L, b+ P8 W4 H% X* t    4. The sorrowful debt. Most people spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on gifts and wrapping. Not to mention all the money spent on gas, driving to different shopping places, and the money spent on fattening food at mall food courts. This goes on credit cards (and around our waistlines), and we then must pay for this — with high interest — during the year. Even if you don’t get into debt, you’re spending money earned from long hours of hard work — is this really how you want to spend your life, paying for needless stuff so corporations can get rich?

; i. D$ H4 `5 N: R% g2 w( c4. 说到债务泪两行。大部分人，即使没在包装上花个几千，那也要有几百美元了。更不用说开车到各大商店而浪费的油钱，还有在商场吃垃圾食品的开销。最后都算到了我们的信用卡里（当然，还有腰围），我们必须在今年偿还—利息高啊。即使你没有欠下钱，你也让你的血汗钱付诸东流了—你真的愿意用这种方式过一生吗？疯狂购买无用之物，好让商家腰缠万贯？

- V, T" b  W& D. P4 v1 a    5. The horrendous, insipid, seizure-inducing advertising. I can’t stand advertising, and it only gets worse on Christmas. The ads pound on you relentlessly until you give in — and it works. That’s been proven — those ads are getting you to buy more, to want more, to lay down the credit card. I don’t watch TV, read newspapers or magazines, or allow ads in my browser (AdBlock) so that I don’t have to be subjected to this.

5. 惊人，无聊，让人发狂的广告。我很不待见广告，圣诞节的广告尤甚。铺天盖地的广告不停地袭来，直到你投降—这招很管用。事实证明—广告让你的购物车满满当当，欲望膨胀，乖乖掏卡付钱。电视，报纸，杂志，我统统不看，也不让广告骚扰我的游览器，所以我不用受它影响。

4 H! R" w% F8 B8 |8 B: m2 M    6. The fuel. If you drive all over the place to shop, you’re using lots of fuel. Even if you just order online, think of the fuel it takes to deliver these products (overnight!) to your home. And the fuel used to create the products, to get the raw materials to the factories, to cut down the raw materials, to ship the finished product to the stores or warehouses from around the world (most likely from China), not to mention all the fuel used to create and ship the packaging. It’s a few million metric craploads of fuel, wasted for giving some presents that will be forgotten.

3 {2 f, n3 O- v1 m5 t+ e. S; [6. 燃料。如果你购物一直是开车去的，那你肯定消耗了很多汽油。就算你是网上购物，那想想送货上门所消耗的汽油吧（星夜兼程）。还有制造这些产品，把产品送进工厂，切割原材料，将成品装船运至世界各地的商店或仓库（大部分产品来自中国）都要消耗燃料，更不用说包装从生产到运送所需的燃料了。这些燃料用于制造上百万立方米的垃圾，运送那些过目即忘的礼物。
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    7. There are still hungry people in the world. In the frenzy that is Christmas shopping, we spend ridiculous amounts of money that is pure waste. In other countries, people are struggling just to eat, or get medicine, or find shelter, or get clean drinking water. We spend so much in a show of consumerist greed, when that money could go to feed a few dozen families. If you have money to waste, consider donating it to an organization that is helping these types of families. I know this sounds preachy, but really, this kind of reminder is necessary in times like these.

7. 世上还有很多人在贫困线上挣扎。在疯狂的圣诞购物中，我们愿意多次掏腰包购买没用的东西。在别的许多国家，人们拼了命，只是为了能吃上一顿饱饭，有病能吃上药，有个简陋之地能遮风挡雨，或者喝上没有泥污的净水。我们大肆购买，显示购物者的贪欲，但这笔钱够十几个家庭填饱肚子。要是你有钱浪费，考虑考虑捐给某个帮助这些家庭的组织。我知道这听起来有点唠叨，但说真的，现在这种时刻，这种提醒很有必要。

    8. The never ending clutter. What happens to all the gifts? They go on our shelves, in our closets, on the floor. We already have so much clutter — do we need more? We already have problems figuring out what to do with everything we own. Why do we want to clutter our homes even more? Why do we want to force clutter on our loved ones, oblige them to find a spot in their already cluttered homes for this gift we’ve given them, so they won’t offend us when we come to visit? Is this obligation really a gift?

8. 永无休止的凌乱。这些礼物最后怎么办呢？它们被堆放在架子上，衣柜里，东倒西歪的躺在地板上。我们已经有很多乱七八糟的东西—还要再乱些吗？我们光想想怎么把已有的东西整理好已经头痛不已。为什么还要更多乱七八糟的东西占满我们的房子呢？为什么我们要把这些东西强加给我们爱的人，迫使他们找出地方存放，而他们的家早就已被我们以前送的所谓礼物占满了，这样我们去看他们时就舒坦了吗？这种也能称之为礼物吗？

% N) g; J+ |* s8 t1 F' }( W0 [    Questions

问题

    Q: But what about the kids?

问：那孩子怎么办呢？
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    A: Kids love getting presents (I have six kids — I should know!). I sure did when I was a kid. Are we to rob them of this? It’s a difficult question, but another side of the equation to consider is what we are teaching the kids. They don’t just participate in the opening of presents — they see all the shopping too. They are being taught to shop, and to value material goods over anything else. Imagine their lives when they’re grown — a life of shopping and debt and waste, because that’s what’s important, right? So for the joy of opening a few presents for a couple hours on Christmas day, we’re imparting on them consumerist values that will last them a lifetime.
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回答：孩子总喜欢收到礼物（我有6个小孩—所以我最清楚！）。我小时候也很喜欢礼物。我们要剥夺这一切吗？这个问题很难回答，但天枰的另一边是我们到底在教孩子什么。他们并不只跟着我们打开礼物—他们全程参与了购物。我们教给他们购物，教他们物质商品重于一切。想想他们长大以后—也是生活在购物，债务，废物的生活中，因为这就是重要的，对吗？所以，仅为了在圣诞节打开礼物那几小时的欢快，我们带给他们的可以影响其一生的消费观念。
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    I think, instead, this can be a great opportunity to have an open discussion with kids about buying and spending and debt. Did you receive this kind of education when you were a kid? Would you have been better off if you had? This is also a great opportunity to teach kids about giving to others, about volunteering and helping the less fortunate, about finding other ways to spend time with loved ones that don’t require shopping. My kids do want presents — but I don’t want them to think that’s what Christmas is all about. We’ve been having this discussion and we will continue to this month.
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我认为，正相反，这其实是个好机会可以和孩子开门见山聊聊购物，开销，和欠债。你小时候有接受过这一类教育吗？如果你有，现在会不会有所收敛呢？这也是教孩子要给予他人的好机会，教他们乐善好施，资源帮助没那么幸运的人，和所爱的人用别的方式相聚，而不是买东西。我的孩子确实期望礼物—但我不希望他们认为礼物是圣诞节的意义所在。我们已经讨论过这个问题，这个月还会继续讨论。
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    Q: But what about family?
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问题：家人怎么办呢？
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    A: Family, believe it or not, will survive without a few presents from us. They can continue to shop and give presents, but you can simply tell them that you don’t want to participate this year. Send them a link to this article to explain why.

% ^4 E  u2 u6 B# H回答：说到家人，信不信由你，少收几个礼物也没什么大不了。他们可以继续买东西，送礼物，但你可以告诉他们你今年不想参与。可以发这篇文章的链接给他们解释原因。

. \: K. U( h/ o+ j/ m+ z4 G    This is also a great opportunity (you see how I love turning problems into opportunities?) to create new traditions with your family — go caroling, string popcorn for the tree, make Christmas cookies, bake pies, play football outside, create Christmas scrapbooks, volunteer.

5 T; |- O, e# E2 u7 c这还是个为你家庭创造新传统的好机会（看出我是多喜欢把问题变为机遇的了吧？）—比如唱颂歌，把爆米花穿起来挂在圣诞书上，做圣诞饼干，考甜品，出去踢足球，做圣诞剪贴簿。都是自发参加。

    Q: But I love giving presents!
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问题：但我喜欢送礼物的感觉！

& ]9 v  y* n5 u% y# [    A: Sure, who doesn’t? And you might also love shopping. Shopping, for many people, is a pleasure like no other. This can be a problem, in my mind: you might be using shopping to give you temporary happiness, to fill a hole in your life, to make you happy when you’re depressed or stressed or lonely. I’m not saying you are, but many people do, and it’s good to take a look at these things. Richer happiness can be found in simpler things that don’t involve spending: being with loved ones, creating, reading, getting outside and doing something active.
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回答：那是肯定的，谁不喜欢送礼物的感觉呢？你肯定也喜欢购物。对许多人来说，购物的感觉无以伦比。我认为，这就是问题了：所以购物能给你带来片刻的快乐，填补你生活的空虚，让你在低落，倍感辛苦，孤独的时候从新开心起来。我不是说你就是这样，但确实很多人是这样。即便看上一眼这些商品也是好的。但是更大的快乐可以从很简单的事情上得到，这和购物一点关系没有：比如和所爱的人在一起，动手制作东西，读书，户外玩耍，或做些积极的事情。
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    Even if you aren’t addicted to shopping, you might just love giving presents. And that’s OK — but you might consider giving more meaningful presents that don’t require lots of shopping. Creating a photo album or scrapbook for someone takes time and thought, while laying down a credit card at Macy’s doesn’t.
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4 }* x, n- i7 z, W1 ]8 t即使你没有购物瘾，你也可能喜欢送礼物。这没问题—但你可以考虑给一些更有意义的礼物，而不是去买。比如花时间和心思制作一本相册集，或者剪贴簿。这可是在MACY刷卡购物买不来的。
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    Q: How do you convince a spouse who equates lavish gifts with love & appreciation?
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问题：如果一对夫妇将贵重礼物和感激之情画上等号，你要怎么说服他们呢？
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$ a4 I% g/ F: U* e: o5 q/ L    A: This definitely isn’t easy. It’s an important discussion to have, however. You’ll need to do it without accusations, without resentment, without making the other person feel he’s under attack. Bring it up as an ongoing discussion about things you’re thinking about — maybe even point to this post as a starting point.
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) N( [; P/ c% k回答：这可真不简单。尽管这个讨论很重要，但你不能用谴责的方式，也不能有愤慨，让别人觉得他被指责。开场白最好用你最近正在思考的事情来说—甚至一开始就可以指出购物这件事。

muzhe

This is such an important discussion because so many couples get badly into debt for this reason — one partner has different values about material goods, shopping, debt, gifts, and so on, and the other partner hates to fight about it so doesn’t talk about it. Financial issues are also a big reason couples split up. So finding a healthy way to talk about values, about financial goals, about how you want to live your lives, is so crucial. Do it gently, with compassion, as a way to live together as a team rather than two people struggling against each other.
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这个问题很重要，因为许多人为此身负重债—其中一人对物质商品，购物，负债，礼物等等理念不同，另一方对争吵感到不厌其烦，以致不愿再提。金钱问题总是夫妻双反的产生分歧的一大原因。所以，用一种健康的方式讨论价值，挣钱目标，生活方式等是至关重要的。慢慢来，设身处地的想象，你们生活在一起就是一家人，而不是互相较劲的两个个体。
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+ P6 E3 `/ u1 j0 c5 @/ A    A good way to get started is to write a blog post or a letter to your spouse about your feelings — again, without being attacking. You might explain why you’re not into giving presents, that you still love your spouse but want to show it in non-consumerist ways, that there are other traditions the two of you could start together to share your love.

一个开头的好方法就是写博客，或者写信给你的另一半，让对方知道你的想法—再次强调，不要咄咄逼人。你可能会解释为什么你不送礼物，你还是很爱对方，但不想通过物质方式去表达。还有很多别的方式你们可以尝试，去分享对方的爱。

, [( v( @- G: l3 P' _% j4 I6 I    Alternatives to buying
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购物的替代品
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  A8 `5 ^2 N  i. T/ ^0 R2 y' Q; L    There are so many good ideas, but a few:

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    Do other things with family, such as caroling, baking, watching. It’s a Wonderful Life, playing football outside.

和家里人做做其它事，比如唱圣诞颂歌，烤饼干，看电视。生活很美好，踢踢球也不错。
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/ N/ i9 W% ^( i    Volunteer as a family at a homeless shelter.
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一家人自愿去避难所照顾无家可归的人。
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# H: r$ o* g" ^7 Y; a' @1 T    Ask people to donate to your favorite charity in lieu of gifts.
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让人把送你礼物的钱捐给你最喜欢的慈善组织

; a9 E7 w- E2 C, H1 i    Make meaningful gifts.
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制作有意义的礼物

; T/ A. Y) ^$ ~- Z: [6 t    Do a gift swap where you put a valued possession (that you already own) into the swap.
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' F/ q0 k, v% m4 j: H/ _7 x试试礼物交换，把你有价值的礼物用于交换（是已经有的东西）
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( i2 @' O. ?: D. u( l    Bake gifts.
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. s- \8 ?+ n+ U6 x* r. z: d1 ?  g    Have an experience instead of giving material goods: do something fun together, go to the beach or a lake.
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试试用一次经历代替物质礼物：一起做些开心的事，比如去海边或者湖边游玩。

    Find hope. Christmas has so much potential to be about so much more than buying — it can be a season of hope, renewal, loved ones, inspiration, contemplation. Talk to your family about this — how can we find ways to be hopeful, thankful, cooperative? How can we be more present instead of worried about getting presents?
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+ K8 j* j, l  X寻找希望。圣诞节除了买东西还有很多意义—这是充满希望的季节，是全新的开始，有我们所爱之人，有激情，还有思考。好好和家里人畅谈一番—我们如何才能满怀希望，充满感激，同心协力？我们如何才能活在当下，而不是当时怎么抓住当下？
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    Get stuff at Goodwill. It’s recycled, and the money helps a good cause.
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心存善意。这将代代相传，让钱传播善意，这就值了。

HBG