中英對照讀新聞》Swedish post office archives over a century of Santa letters瑞典郵政局封存超過一世紀的耶誕老人信件
◎管淑平
Sweden’s postal service PostNord is inundated every year with thousands of letters beginning with ’Dear Santa’, and it not only answers them but for over a century has kept those that stand out.
瑞典郵務服務機關「瑞典郵政」每年被數千封以「親愛的耶誕老公公」開頭的信件淹沒,郵局不只回信,而且一個世紀多來保存其中一些出眾的信件。
A few letters every year are selected for the Postmuseum’s archives, a collection that now holds about 10,000 letters from around the world, the oldest dating back to the 1890s.
每年會有一些信件被選出來,收入郵政博物館檔案庫,現在已經收藏約1萬封從世界各地寄來的信,最早可追溯到1890年代。
All of the letters are opened and read, and when a return address is provided, the museum sends a reply back.
這些信都會被拆閱,如果有提供回信地址,博物館會回信。
Toys, pets and books have topped children’s wish lists over the years. And it is not only children who send letters to Santa Claus: this year’s batch contained a letter from Taiwan sent by a 20-year-old. (AFP)
這些年來,孩童的願望清單最多的是玩具、寵物和書籍。不只小孩寄信給耶誕老人,今年收到的信中,有一封來自台灣,是一名20歲的人寄來的。(法新社)
新聞辭典
archive:動詞,封存,歸檔。例句:You can archive those e-mails in a folder.(你可以把這些電子郵件歸檔,存在一個資料夾裡。)
top:動詞,勝過,位居第一。例句:His latest album sales have already topped one million.(他的最新專輯銷售量已經超過100萬張。)