The Year That Has Gone 　　 　　The month of December is a big month for celebrations and festivals in the west and increasingly these are impinging on the traditional end-of-year attitudes of Chinese people, especially the young. I am not at all convinced that this is a good thing for most people and I say this from my own experience.
　　
　　Traditionally in Scotland, my homeland,the only major festival of the whole year wasthe seeing in of the New Year on Hogmanay and the first-footing that continued throughout the early hours and days of the welcome arrival. If there was any commercial gain tobe made it was made by the whisky distillers for almost everything else was made at homein a traditional way. The similarities with the celebration of Spring Festival in the countryside in Shandong are in fact quite striking, probably because agriculturalcommunities throughout the world enjoy awinter break from their labours and look forward to the coming of spring. As childrenwe stayed up till after midnight, listened forthe bells which heralded the new year, had avery daring sip of whisky mixed with hotwater and sugar and went to bed delighted beyond measure.
　　Within a few years, the influence of the"English" festival of Christmas began to extend even into our rural backwater and webegan to hear of a mysterious character called Santa Claus who brought gifts for children(well for good children anyway). My parents,who could ill afford such luxury found themselves bowing to fashion and we hung upour stocking on Christmas Eve, just as they didin the story books, expecting some reward.The slippery slope had begun.
　　Two generations later, Christmas is atleast as important for most Scots as New Year is and certainly costs them as much or more.The traditional first-footing or going out to visit all your neighbours and have a dram with them to welcome the New Year has given way in many places to parties in hotels. Most municipal governments (most famously that of Edinburgh) now organize an open-air celebration of Hogmanay with famous recording stars and entertainers which attract most of the young, while the older generation stay at home and watch the special programme on television.
　　This same pattern is now being repeated in China, where the commercial pressure to get everyone, especially children and young people, to celebrate Christmas by the buying of expensive gifts and attending extravagant parties grows stronger year by year. Ten Christmases ago, I went as a guest of our university to a hotel in Jinan which was havinga special celebration with a real Father Christmas. Everyone and his wife - and above all his child - was there and the Father Christmas character in his Coca-Cola red and white robes was a major attraction. Now there is scarcely a restaurant, never mind a hotel, inthe city that doesn"t provide its own Christmas party complete with the smiling old man. The first store in Jinan to have a Christmas choir was also the first to have its staff working all through the Spring Festival holiday but its example was soon followed by all the others.As prosperity has increased, many city-folk prefer to go out to eat with their friends rather than making jiaozi together in their own kitchen. Recently I asked my writing classes to discuss the topic of "Christmas or Spring Festival" and discovered that a majority of my students prefer Christmas mainly because they like having a good time with their class-mates rather than "being bored" at home with their family. This is good news for the business community but sets alarm bells ringing for those who value China"s ancient traditionalfestivals.
　　Christmas, of course, is an important festival for Christians all over the world and that includes those who live in China. However, it would be a sad day, in my humble opinion, were it simply to become a harvest festival for the entrepreneurial class and a global substitute for the traditional festivals of ordinary people. I wish you all a happy new year.
　　
　　在西方，12月份是重要的節(jié)慶之月， 這種風(fēng)氣也逐漸影響了中國(guó)人對(duì)待歲末 時(shí)間的態(tài)度，尤其是年輕人。以我自己 的經(jīng)驗(yàn)看，對(duì)大部分人來(lái)說(shuō)這不見(jiàn)得是 什么好事。
　　在我的家鄉(xiāng)蘇格蘭，傳統(tǒng)上，一年 之內(nèi)惟一的盛大節(jié)慶活動(dòng)是迎接新年到 來(lái)的Hogmanay節(jié)。從新年夜到來(lái)之前的 幾小時(shí)開始，這種慶�；顒�(dòng)要一直持續(xù) 幾天時(shí)間。節(jié)慶期間，惟一能從商業(yè)活 動(dòng)中獲利的只有釀造威士忌的人，因?yàn)?除了威士忌之外，所有其他節(jié)慶活動(dòng)的 物品，人們都是按照傳統(tǒng)方式在家里自 己弄的。在這點(diǎn)上，蘇格蘭慶祝 Hogmanay節(jié)與山東納農(nóng)村慶祝春節(jié)有驚 人的相似之處，這也可能是因?yàn)槿�世�?的農(nóng)業(yè)地區(qū)在農(nóng)忙之后，都要在冬日里 休整并期盼來(lái)年春天早日來(lái)臨的緣故吧。 在我小的時(shí)候，新年夜，我們都要熬到 半夜，聽(tīng)了宣告新年來(lái)臨的鐘聲后，喝 點(diǎn)攙了熱水和糖的威士忌，然后懷著無(wú) 法形容的愉悅?cè)ニ�覺(jué)。
　　也就在幾年時(shí)間吧，“英國(guó)人的節(jié)日” ――圣誕節(jié)傳到了我們那里的鄉(xiāng)下。我 們開始聽(tīng)說(shuō)一個(gè)神秘的圣誕老人會(huì)給孩 子們(當(dāng)然是好孩子啦)帶來(lái)禮物。我 父母盡管沒(méi)錢去應(yīng)付這些奢侈品，但是， 也不得不屈服于潮流。于是，我們?cè)谑?誕節(jié)的晚上也像故事書里寫的那樣，掛 起了襪子，盼望著能得到一些好處。從 此，這種談不上多么好的規(guī)矩就無(wú)休止 地發(fā)展起來(lái)。
　　經(jīng)過(guò)了兩代人后，對(duì)大多數(shù)蘇格蘭 人來(lái)說(shuō)，圣誕節(jié)至少是和新年一樣重要 的節(jié)日了，而且我們花在圣誕節(jié)上的錢 是越來(lái)越多。在很多地方，在新年第一 天到鄰居家里拜年或與他們一起舉杯同 慶新年到來(lái)的傳統(tǒng)都被改成了到酒店里 聚會(huì)慶賀。部分市政府(愛(ài)丁堡尤其如 此)現(xiàn)在還組織露天活動(dòng)來(lái)歡慶 Hogmanay節(jié)。歡慶活動(dòng)上，要邀請(qǐng)一些 影視明星或娛樂(lè)明星來(lái)吸引年輕人參加。 年紀(jì)大的人，大都呆在家里看電視上的 節(jié)目。
　　這種情況現(xiàn)在中國(guó)又重復(fù)上演了。 受商業(yè)的推波助瀾，大家(尤其是孩子 和年輕人)購(gòu)買昂貴的禮物和參加奢華 聚會(huì)來(lái)慶祝圣誕節(jié)的風(fēng)氣變得一年比一 年濃。十年前的一個(gè)圣誕節(jié)，我受所在 的大學(xué)邀請(qǐng)，到濟(jì)南的一家酒店參加了 圣誕慶祝活動(dòng)。慶�；顒�(dòng)上的主角是一 個(gè)穿紅色衣服的圣誕老人。到場(chǎng)的大都 是一家三口――丈夫、妻子和孩子。圣 誕老人穿著紅白相間的袍子，看起來(lái)像 個(gè)可口可樂(lè)罐子，很是招搖�，F(xiàn)在，圣 誕節(jié)的時(shí)候，濟(jì)南幾乎家家餐館(更何 況賓館了)都要舉行圣誕活動(dòng)，而且活 動(dòng)上都有自己的圣誕老人出現(xiàn)，供人們 娛樂(lè)。
　　濟(jì)南第一家在圣誕節(jié)期間舉行合唱 活動(dòng)的商店同時(shí)也開了春節(jié)期間讓員工 不間斷工作的先河。但是，這種做法很 快被別的商家學(xué)會(huì)了。隨著條件的改善， 現(xiàn)在許多城里的人都喜歡和朋友到外面 吃飯，而不是在自己家里的廚房里包餃 子了。最近，在我教的寫作課上，我要 學(xué)生們圍繞“圣誕節(jié)與春節(jié)”的話題展 開討論，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，大部分學(xué)生更愿意 過(guò)圣誕節(jié)，因?yàn)樗麄儗幵概c同學(xué)在一起 玩，也不愿意呆在家里過(guò)春節(jié)，因?yàn)樵?家里沒(méi)意思。對(duì)做生意的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這絕 對(duì)是個(gè)好消息，但是卻為那些珍愛(ài)中國(guó) 古老傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日的人敲響了警鐘。
　　對(duì)全世界的基督徒和中國(guó)的教徒而 言，圣誕節(jié)當(dāng)然是個(gè)重要的節(jié)日。但是， 依我看，如果圣誕節(jié)僅僅是生意人大肆 撈錢的日子，讓它來(lái)取代大眾的傳統(tǒng)節(jié) 日，那可真是悲哀透頂。所以，我還是 祝你新年快樂(lè)吧。

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