Is There a Santa Claus?/圣诞老人存在吗？
我们很荣幸能迅速而明确地回答下面这封来信，并与此同时，为这位忠实的来信人成为《太阳报》的朋友而感到十分高兴：
「亲爱的编辑，我是个八岁大的小女孩。我的一些朋友说，这个世界上根本没有圣诞老人。爸爸说：“你可以去问问《太阳报》，看看有没有这回事。”那么您可以告诉我吗，这个世界上到底有没有圣诞老人？」
Virginia，你的朋友说没有圣诞老人，那是错的。他们对这个充斥着怀疑的时代投以同样怀疑的目光。他们不会相信任何不是亲眼所见的东西。他们觉得自己的小脑瓜能理解世界上的任何东西。Virginia啊，世界上所有的头脑，无论大人孩子，都是那么的渺小。在浩渺的宇宙中，人类的智力不过一只蝼蚁那样细微，而那能够掌握所有知识和真理的能力，就好比围在这蝼蚁之外的世界那般广阔无垠。
是的，Virginia，世界上一定有圣诞老人。就像有爱、有同情心、有诚实一样，圣诞老人也确确实实是有的。这些美好的东西生生不息，最大限度地让你的生命充盈着美和愉悦。天哪！如果世界上没有圣诞老人，那会多么可怕！你想想，那会和世界上没有Virginia你这个可爱的小生命是一样可怕的呢。那样，那些孩子般的信仰将不复存在，诗意和浪漫也将不再有容身之所。我们能品味到的，大概只剩下眼睛能看到的、手能摸到的、身体能感觉到的东西了。并且，儿童时代充满世界的光明，说不定也会全部消失了。
要是不相信有圣诞老人啊！那也不要去信童话里的小精灵了。试试看，让你的爸爸雇些人，让他们在平安夜的时候守着每家每户的每个烟囱，看能不能抓住圣诞老人。但就算你没有看到圣诞老人从烟囱里下来，那又能证明什么呢？ 没人见过圣诞老人，但那不代表世界上就没有圣诞老人。无论你是大人还是孩子，世界上那些最本质的东西都是肉眼看不到的。你见过小精灵在草地上起舞么？当然没见过，但不代表他们就不存在。谁也无法想象出那个看不见、也不可见的世界，有着怎样壮美瑰丽的景象。
你能拆开孩子们玩的拨浪鼓，看看里面是什么东西让它发声的 。但是，眼睛看不见的、覆盖着那个世界的大幕，即便是这个世界上最有力的人，或者是聚集所有的大力士，也揭不开。只有信念、诗意、爱和浪漫才能推开这重幕，向我们描绘、展示那无与伦比的美与壮丽。那样美好、闪光的东西，难道是人们编的瞎话吗？不，Virginia，这世上再没有什么比这更为真实永恒了。
没有圣诞老人？多么荒谬！感谢上天！他存在于这世界上，并且永远活着。即便是一千年以后，Virginia啊，哪怕从现在起的十个一万年以后，他也会如现在一样，永远为童心带来欢愉。
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We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of THE SUN:
DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
《圣诞老人存在吗？》是《太阳报》于1897年9月21日发表的一篇社评。
家住纽约曼哈顿上城西侧，时年8岁的小女孩弗吉尼娅·欧汉伦（Virginia O'Hanlon）问父亲：圣诞老人是否真的存在？父亲告诉她：向《太阳报》写信询问，便会得知真相。于是弗吉尼娅写了一封短信，寄给报社。
报社编辑弗朗西斯·彻奇（Francis Church）收到来信后，决定用报纸的社评来回复。他在美国南北战争时期曾是一名战地记者，目睹过很多血腥场面，并同时感到物质条件改善的同时，人们正在失去希望和信仰。他希望利用回答这一孩子的简单提问之际，探讨其更深层次的哲理。
