 | | Several hundreds of students dressed as Santa Claus |
A British vicar reduced young hildren to tears and stunned their parents when he said Santa Claus and his reindeer would burn to a crisp while delivering presents at supersonic speed.
Stand-in vicar Lee Rayfield shattered the illusions of dozens of kids when he joked in his carol service sermon that Santa and his reindeer would burn up doing 3,000 times the speed of sound as they delivered gifts to 91.8 million homes. "I am mortified and appreciate that I have put some parents in a difficult position with a lot of explaining to do," Rayfield told the reporters. "I love Christmas." Newspapers said many children at the school service at St Mary's Church in Maidenhead, west of London, were distraught when Rayfield said those words. "There were a lot of children there who still believe in Santa Claus, or did so until last night," Sue Smee, who attended the service with her five- and nine-year-old sons, said, "It has left us parents with a lot of explaining to do today," she added. (Agencies) | 近日,一位英國教區牧師的一句話讓無數小孩子哭出了聲，也使他們的家長目瞪口呆不知所措。他說，如果圣誕老人真的駕著馴鹿以超音速飛行在空中給孩子們送禮物的話，他早就起火燒成碎片了。 李·雷菲爾德是教區的替補牧師，他在頌歌布道時開玩笑說，為了給9180萬家庭送去禮物，圣誕老人駕著馴鹿的飛行速度必須是音速的3000倍，如果真是那樣的話，他早就著火燒起來了。他的話粉碎了許多孩子的夢想和寄托。  在接受采訪時說："我為我說的話感到慚愧。也明白這給許多家長都帶來了困擾，他們肯定得費很大的勁向孩子們解釋這一切。"他還強調："我本人深深熱愛圣誕節。"
據報道，當地學校的許多孩子都在這所倫敦西部的圣瑪麗教堂聽布道。當聽到雷菲爾德對圣誕老人的描述，孩子們悲傷得幾乎要發狂了。 休·斯米帶著自己5歲和9歲的孩子一起參加了那個布道。她說："仍然有很多孩子對圣誕老人的存在深信不疑，或者說在昨晚之前還相信。而今天，我們做家長的不得不找各種借口來向孩子們解釋這一切。" Santa Claus: 圣誕老人 reduce sb.to 使某人陷入……的境地 （中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2002-12-13 01:00
