我家的圣诞树上挂着一张小小的白色信封.docVIP

我家的圣诞树上挂着一张小小的白色信封。上面既没有收信人的名字和寄信人的签名、也没有任何提示。它挂在我家的圣诞树上已经十多年了。 It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no?inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so. 一切都因丈夫迈克对圣诞的憎恨而起。他并不憎恨圣诞节本身的意义，但他讨厌圣诞被商业化了。人们大把大把地花钱；在除夕夜的最后一分钟，围着圈不顾一切地跑去为哈里大叔抢些彩带，为外祖母手抢些彩粉；疯狂地瓜分礼物，把一切都抛在脑后。 It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. He didn't hate the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it; overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma and the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else. 正是因为知道他的这种感受，于是有一年我决定打破常规（平时都送些衬衣呀、毛衣或是领带等礼物）。我为迈克准备了一些特别的东西。灵感是有来历的。 Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. 那年我们的儿子凯文十二岁，在学校摔跤队的初级班里接受训练。圣诞节前夕，学校安排了一场非联赛的比赛，对手是本市教会资助的一只队伍，他们大部分队员都是黑人。 Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. 这些小伙子们穿着破烂不堪的运动鞋，唯一能够绑在脚上的仿佛只有那条鞋带。而与之形成鲜明对比的是我们的孩子，他们身披金蓝相间的制服，脚蹬崭新的摔跤鞋，显得分外耀眼。 These youngsters, dressed in?sneakers?so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their?spiffy?blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. 比赛开始了，我惊异地发现对方选手在摔跤的时候没有带专业头盔，只有一种好象质地很薄的帽子保护着选手的耳朵。 As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. 对贫民队来说买一顶头盔显然是一种奢侈。毫无疑问我们以绝对的优势获胜，并取得了每个级别的冠军。比赛结束了，他们队的每个男孩从地毯上爬起来，在溃败的失意中昂首阔步装出一副获胜的样子，流露出像街头地痞一样的骄横和蛮不讲理。 It was a luxury the?ragtag?team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We too