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During the Christmas season everyone seems a bit happier and more hopeful. There is a special “spirit of Christmas”, and one of the things that makes the spirit of Christmas so strong is the many Christmas songs that people listen to and sing with their family and friends.
聖誕節期間，人們顯得較快樂、富有希望，這就是特別的「聖誕精神」，能讓聖誕精神發揚光大的原因就是人們所聆聽到或是與家人、朋友齊唱的聖誕歌曲。
Because Christmas is a Christian holiday, the earliest Christmas songs were all religious songs that talked about the birth of Jesus Christ. Some examples of these songs are Silent Night, Joy to the World, and Away in a Manger. These traditional songs are also called ‘Christmas carols’. The word carol is also a verb that means to go from house to house, usually with a group of people, singing Christmas songs to the people inside. Caroling became popular in the 1800s, and is still a very popular Christmas activity.
因為聖誕節是基督教的節慶，所以早期的聖誕歌曲都是有關宗教性、談及耶穌誕生的歌曲，例如「Silent Night」, 「Joy to the World」和「 Away in a Manger」 這些曲目。這些傳統的歌曲也可稱為“聖誕報佳音”，「carol」也是『動詞』，表示一群人對著每戶人家唱著聖誕歌曲。報佳音的活動在十八世紀開始盛行，這已是一個相當受歡迎的聖誕節活動
Beginning in the 1800s, people began writing Christmas songs that were not religious, but instead were about some of the fun aspects of the Christmas season. For example, the song Deck the Halls sings about decorating for Christmas and wearing your nicest clothes on Christmas day. Jingle Bells is about riding through the snow on a sleigh pulled by a horse. And We Wish You a Merry Christmas is, of course, about wishing people a Merry Christmas!
十八世紀初，人們開始撰寫非宗教性的聖誕歌曲，取而代之的是有關聖誕節慶有趣的一面，例如「Deck the Halls」歌曲是關於聖誕佈置、為聖誕節盛裝打扮；「Jingle Bells」描述有關在雪地裡騎乘雪橇的故事；「We Wish You a Merry Christmas」則是一個祝福大家聖誕快樂的歌曲。
In the 1900s, people began to write songs about Santa Claus, like Jolly Old St. Nicholas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. And some songs became famous because they were in a movie or a cartoon. The best-selling Christmas song of all time, White Christmas, was sung by Bing Crosby in the movie Holiday Inn. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman also became famous because they were in cartoons.
在十九世紀，人們開始譜寫有關聖誕老人的歌曲，像是「Jolly Old St. Nicholas」和「Santa Claus is Coming to Town」這兩首歌曲。有些聖誕歌曲因為在電影或卡通中出現而變得有名，史上最唱銷的聖誕歌曲是在電影”Holiday Inn”由Bing Crosby所演唱的「White Christmas」。而「Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer」和「Frosty the Snowman」則是因為是卡通插曲而有名。
There are now hundreds of Christmas songs about many different aspects of Christmas. The one thing they all have in common is they make us feel cheerful during the Christmas season.
現在有很多不同觀點的聖誕歌曲，唯一的共通點是這些歌曲都讓我們在聖誕季節中感到愉快。