Unseasonable Conditions for Christmas
作者：阿特·布克沃尔德译者：无机客
感恩节早就过去好久了。我们现在要迎来的是圣诞节。我们不能任它逝去。我们要在沃尔玛、西尔斯、凯马特和塔吉特门前驻足。使命仿若天降。我们必须要大肆花费，仿佛再也不会有明日。即便还有明日，我们依旧要花得很多。
Thanksgiving Day is dead as a doornail. We now have to get on with Christmas. We can't pass Go. We have to stop at Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart and Target. The order comes from on high. We have to spend like there's no tomorrow. And even if there is a tomorrow, we still have to spend more.
每个人——几乎每个人——都将度过一个愉快的圣诞，大概唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德在此列之外。他将没法进入五角大楼的停车场。不过，我们没法事事顺心。
Everyone -- almost everyone -- is going to have a great Christmas, except possibly Donald Rumsfeld. He's not going to be able to get into the Pentagon City parking lot. But we can't win them all.
问题就是，我们是怎么知道圣诞节对所有人都如此重要的，即使我们从不庆贺主的诞生？
The question is, how do we know that Christmas is that important to all of us, even if we don't celebrate the birth of our Lord?
我们脑袋里知道，是因为自己被如此告知，即使世上没有圣诞老人，还是会有圣诞节。圣诞老人将在梅西百货、罗德和泰勒公司、诺斯庄百货和萨克斯第五大道门前等候你。你调皮捣蛋或是乖乖听话，这无关紧要，只要你消费了就好。
We know it because we've been told that, even if there's no Santa Claus, there is still a Christmas. Santa Claus will be waiting for you at Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. It doesn't matter if you've been naughty or nice, as long as you spend some money.
良好经济的秘密就在于我们得花掉多少的钞票，才能使得今年经济优于去年。无论你属于上层阶级，中产阶级，还是底层民众，仍然有人期待你花掉自己那份钱，要么给孩子们购买玩具、给自己购买礼物，要么买些出于内疚才购置的赠送礼物。
The secret of a great economy is how much money we will spend to make it a better economy than last year. Whether you're in the upper class, middle class or lower class, you're still expected to spend your share, either on toys for your children, gifts for yourself, or presents given out of guilt.
为了令生活更便利些，百货商店早上六点就开张迎客，一直要开到午夜时分。这一切到底是如何发生的？布鲁明戴尔百货是如何控制我们的生活的？这是个极佳的问题。
To make life easier, department stores open at 6 a.m. and stay open until midnight. How did this all come about? How is it that Bloomingdale's is running our lives? This is a good question.
假如我有选择余地，我会跳过圣诞节交换礼物这一环节——要么是我并不想要的礼物，要么就是没人会送我的礼物。男士们收到如此多的领带，每次换一条都绰绰有余。
If I had my way, I'd skip exchanging presents for Christmas -- presents I don't want and no one wants to give me. There are only so many neckties one man can wear at a time.
每年都是一模一样。新一代人已经长大成人，他们注视着电视上的每一条广告，看着钞票可以买到的东西。
Every year it's the same thing. A new generation has grown up and they're watching every commercial on television that money can buy.
圣诞节到底是好是坏？要辨证地来看。
Is Christmas a good thing or a bad thing? It is something.
很明显，一些人想要把圣诞节打入冷宫。同一批人还想要撤去萨克斯第五大道百货商店的窗户装饰。他们这些人甚至不愿走到第五大道去看看洛克菲勒中心的圣诞树。
Obviously some people want to do away with Christmas. They're the same people who want to do away with the manger and Saks Fifth Avenue window decorations. They're the same people who won't even walk down Fifth Avenue and look at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
关键的问题在于此处，你怎么能在这个经济每况日下的紧要时刻避免另一个圣诞节的出现呢？
The big question is, how do you avoid another Christmas at the very moment that the economy is going downhill?
问题在此，
The question is, what good is a mall if no one will go to it? What good is Internet shopping if you can't order on it? Where is it all taking us?
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be a Christmas shopper. You don't have to be a member of a union to work for Wal-Mart.
Does this mean our boys will be home for Christmas? We all hope so. But we're all going to have a Christmas, whether they come home or not. No matter where you are at this very moment, or what you're doing, we will deal with the holiday, even if the Shiites and the Sunnis don't.
What are we doing over in Iraq in the first place?
2006Tribune Media Services
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