"It's very niceto see you," he said in a deep, jolly voice. "Now, tell me, my dear,have you been good this year?"

“很高兴见到你，”他用深沉而愉快的声音说。“现在，告诉我，亲爱的，今年你有表现好吗？”

"Well..."said Sister, taking a deep breath, "I haven't been perfect, but I havebeen good." Then she told him what she wantedfor Christmas and gave him her list.

“这个...”妹妹边说边深呼吸，“我没有表现完美，但是我表现良好。”接着她告诉圣诞熊想要的圣诞礼物，并且给了他自己的清单。

Santa gave Sister andevery other cub a souvenir coloring book - thecover showed him and his eight tiny reindeerflying through the starry night.

圣诞熊给了妹妹和其他所有的小孩子们一个彩色的纪念本——封面上是在繁星满空的夜晚飞翔的圣诞熊和八只小驯鹿。

Sister's mind was sofilled with thoughts about Santa that she almost forget about the specialshopping she had to do. But Brother remembered.

妹妹的脑袋里面满是关于圣诞熊的疑问，一直与她几乎要忘记这次特别购物里面她要做的。但是哥哥记得。

They found just theright presents for Mama and Papa. Sister chose a fine new fur-brush for Papaand a lovely new pincushionfor Mama. Brother bought Mama a boxof her favorite breakfast tea and, for Papa, a handy pocketcalculator.

他们找到了正好适合给妈妈和爸爸的礼物。妹妹选了一个精新的皮毛刷子给爸爸，一个新上的可爱针插给妈妈。哥哥给妈妈带了一盒她最喜欢的早茶，给爸爸带了一个手掌大的迷你计算器。

"Look!"said Sister as they were leaving the mall. "Another Santa!" She wasright. There, ringing a bell, was a rather skinnySanta with a scraggly beard. Beside him was a big iron pot that said HELP THE NEEDY.

“看！”妹妹在他们离开商场的时候说。“另一个圣诞熊！”她说得没错。那里，响着铃铛的是一个有着散乱胡子、相当瘦削的圣诞熊。在他旁边有一个写着“帮帮穷人”的大铁罐。

"That's one ofSanta's many helpers," explained Papa. "His job is to collect moneyto help the needy - birds who need seed, squirrels who didn't put enough aside for the winter."

“这是圣诞老人的许多助手之一，”爸爸解释。“他的工作是收集钱去帮助穷人——需要种子的小鸟们，没有存够食物过冬的松鼠们。”

The Bear family allput money in the pot. Sister had spent all hers and had to borrow some fromMama.

熊一家都放了钱到罐子里。妹妹已经用光了她的钱，需要向妈妈借一些钱。

Finally the days andweeks of preparation and waiting were over and it was Christmas Eve.

几天甚至几周的准备工作和等待终于结束了，平安夜到了。

"You knowsomething, Papa?" said Sister as she helped hang the last holly wreath. "I've been thinking about Santa Bear and what a hard job he has. How can he visitevery cub in the world in just a single night? Wheredoes he get all those gifts? And besides - how can reindeer fly? And how canthe sleigh land if it doesn't snow? And how can Santa come down our skinny littlechimney?"

“爸爸，你知道吗？”妹妹在帮忙挂上最后一个冬青花环的时候说。“我都在想关于圣诞熊和他辛苦的工作的事情。他是怎样在一个晚上之类拜访世界上每一个小孩子？他的礼物是从哪里得到的？还有除此之外——驯鹿怎么会飞？还有，如果不下雪的话，雪橇要怎么着地？还有，圣诞熊怎样从我们家窄窄的小烟囱下来？”

Papa took a deepbreath, then looked up at the starry sky.

爸爸深呼机了一下，然后抬头看星光闪闪的天空。

"I guess theanswer, my dear, is that Christmas is such a special time that very special,almost magical things can happen. And the most magical thing of all is Santa Bear. I'dsay he has the best job in the whole world, because thejoy of giving is what Christmas is all about."

“亲爱的，我想答案是，圣诞节是那么那么特别的日子，几乎所有神奇的事情都能发生。然后，最神奇的事情是圣诞熊。我会说他有着整个世界最好的工作，因为带来欢乐就是圣诞节的意义。”

"Isuppose," said Sister, "that Santa could just skip the chimney andcome in the front door."

“我想，”妹妹说，“圣诞熊可以不走烟囱，可以从前面进来。”

"Isuppose," said Papa.

“我也这样想，”爸爸说。

Then, before she wentin, she took one last look at the starry sky. But it had clouded over. And now, instead of stars, there were snowflakes - thousands and thousands ofsmall, silent snowflakes.

接着，在她继续说之前，她看了一次最后的星光闪闪的天空。但是已经被云盖住了。然后，现在，取代星星的是，有雪花——成千上万的小小的安静的雪花。

"Well," shethought. "At least that'll help with the sleigh."

“嗯，”她想。“至少这样能帮雪橇着地。”

When Sister woke upon Christmas morning, Bear Country was covered with a beautiful blanket of snow. And the floor beneath the Bears' Christmas tree was covered withpiles of beautiful presents! What fun! What excitement!What shouting!

妹妹在圣诞节早上醒来的时候，熊国被美丽的雪被子覆盖上了。并且，熊的圣诞树下的地板被很多漂亮的礼物覆盖上了。多么有趣！多么刺激！多么大声的欢呼！

Then, when theexcitment and shouting were over, the cubs watched Mama and Papa open their presents.

然后，兴奋、欢呼过后，孩子们看这妈妈和爸爸打开他们的礼物。

"What lovely,thoughful gifts!" said Mama.

“多可爱体贴的礼物！”妈妈说

"Just what Iwanted!" said Papa.

“正好是我想要的！”爸爸说。

It was a very specialmoment. Sister knew right then and there that Papa was right: Santa Bear didhave the best job in the whole world - because the joy of giving was whatChristmas was all about.

这是一个很特别的时刻。妹妹此时此刻知道爸爸是对的：圣诞熊有着整个世界最好的工作——因为带来欢乐就是圣诞节的意义。

12月14日（周日）10：00、14：00，12月12日（周五）18：00，12月27日（周六）14：00，16：00，“教授”偷偷告诉你，这个冬天不一样。拍吧，拍吧，不是罪。肯思互动竞拍会，别具风味的圣诞礼物交换，争当小小竞买人，让我们一拍即合吧！

12月20日，21日（每天3场 10：00、14：00、16：00）肯思化身“圣诞小镇”，不一样的异国风情，不一样的圣诞体验，为你带来一个银白色的圣诞之旅。