世博與文化：圣誕老人的故鄉(xiāng)
來源：網(wǎng)絡(luò)發(fā)布時間：2010-05-13
世博會芬蘭館有一個大紅人，很多游客都跑去看他。他是誰呢？就是我們最熟悉的圣誕老人啦。就像最近有山東安徽兩省三地爭奪西門親故里一樣，名人的故鄉(xiāng)也是很搶手的文化資產(chǎn)哦，北歐的很多國家都聲稱他們那里才是圣誕老人真正的居住地。都有哪些呢？
根據(jù)維基百科的介紹，圣誕老人原來還是很搶手的�。�
In North American tradition (in the United States and Canada), Santa lives on the North Pole, which according to Canada Post lies within Canadian jurisdiction.
在北美洲，人們認為圣誕老人居住在北極，加拿大郵政局將其劃定在加拿大的屬地之中。
On December 23 2008, Jason Kenney, Canada's minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, formally awarded Canadian citizenship status to Santa Claus. "The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete," Kenney said in an official statement.
2008年加拿大多元文化事務(wù)及移民部部長Jason Kenney向圣誕老人頒發(fā)了市民身份認證，在一份官方聲明中他說：“加拿大政府祝愿圣誕老人一切安好。圣誕老人作為加拿大公民，在結(jié)束世界巡游后可以隨時回到加拿大境內(nèi)。”
There is also a city named North Pole in Alaska where a tourist attraction known as the "Santa Claus House" has been established. The US postal service uses the city's zip code of 99705 as their advertised postal code for Santa Claus.
阿拉斯加有一個城市名叫“北極”，那有一個旅游景點，“圣誕老人的小屋”。美國郵政局告訴那些想給圣誕老人寫信的人說，他們可以使用北極市的郵政編碼。
不過，1995年，聯(lián)合國正式承認，圣誕老人的故鄉(xiāng)是芬蘭北部拉普蘭省的省會羅瓦涅米市。這下沒得爭了，圣誕老人從此落戶芬蘭。在拉普蘭有一個圣誕老人的郵局，每年世界各地寫給圣誕老人的信件都會寄到那里：
Every item mailed at the Santa Claus’ Main Post Office is postmarked by hand with a special Arctic Circle postmark.
每封寄往圣誕郵局的信件都被手工加蓋一個特殊的北極圈郵戳。
關(guān)于圣誕老人，我們還知道多少呢？比如，他的年齡？
圣誕老人回答說：
Once I tried to sit down and think how many Christmases I could remember, but once I had got to about 364 Christmases I fell asleep in my very comfortable rocking chair…
他的胡子怎么打理的呢？
In order to make sure Santa’s beard stays handsome and bushy, the elves have established Santa’s very own Elf Barber Shop.
圣誕老人喜歡吃什么？
Santa Claus believes that the best food in the whole world is naturally the Christmas porridge prepared by Mrs Claus!
圣誕老人的馴鹿是怎么打耳洞的呢？
The mosquitoes are helpers for Santa’s Reindeer Elves, as they help to gather all the reindeer together to receive their earmarks.
作為圣誕老人的故鄉(xiāng)，拉普蘭也是一個非常美的地方，被稱為歐洲最后一塊原始保留區(qū)。獨特的極地風(fēng)光迷倒了無數(shù)世界各地的游客。一起來看看它的四季風(fēng)情吧：
冬季：
A husky dog or snowmobile safari, sleigh ride or take the plunge into an ice pool.
乘坐狗狗拉的雪橇或乘坐雪上汽車來一次旅行，還可以嘗試一下冰潭中的冬泳！
夏季：
The unique experience of summer in Lapland is enhanced by experiencing the nightless night or midnight sun when the sun doesn’t set at all.
夏天的拉普蘭，太陽終日不落，游客可以體會到別處難得一見的“白夜”奇景。
秋季：
In autumn the days get shorter, rain raises the water levels of rivers, lakes and swamps, and the cooling weather helps to form a misty cloud cover over the waterways.Berries and mushrooms are ready for picking in the autumn. Try Nordic walking and trekking the Lappish nature before the coming of snow and start of winter activities.
秋天，白晝變短，雨水增多，河流、湖泊、沼澤水位都上升了，而涼爽的天氣也使得水道上空霧氣朦朧。秋天是采摘漿果和蘑菇的季節(jié)。在冬天到來之前來一次北歐悠游吧，遍覽拉普蘭美麗的自然風(fēng)光。
春季：
Snow often thaws in Lapland as late as the beginning of May, so the temperatures also rarely raise above zero. Consequently, spring provides excellent settings for outdoor pursuits in sunny and mild weather.
在拉普蘭，五月初雪才開始融化，溫度也悄悄回到零度以上。于是拉普蘭的春季就成為外出遠足的好時節(jié)。
