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A Silent Night for History 细说平安夜

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It was a cold, still night on December 24, Christmas Eve, when Father Joseph Mohr walked into the Austria town of Arnsdorf. The snowy streets of the town were filled with the scents of Christmas cakes and sweets.As Father Mohr reached the door of his friend Franz Gruber, a music teacher, a poem he had written years ago surfaced in his mind. Father Mohr asked his friend to help write some music to accompany the poem Their joint effort would become the world’s most popular Christmas carol, Silent Night.

12月24日耶诞夜，一个寒冷寂静的夜晚，约瑟夫穆尔神父走入亚森朵夫这个奥地利小镇，积着雪的街上满是圣诞节糕点的香味。当穆尔神父抵达他那身为音乐老师的朋友法朗兹古鲁伯的家门前时，一首他多年前所写的诗浮现脑海。穆尔神父便请托他的友人为这首诗谱曲；而两人的心血结晶，就成了世界上最耳熟能详的圣诞歌曲—《平安夜》。

The song might never have left the Arnsdorf area had it not been for a broken organ in a local church. A master organ repairman from another region had to make repeated trips to fix the instrument.On one visit, he came across the music to Silent Night and, falling in love with it, took a copy back home with him. The song thus began its spread around Austria.

要不是因为当地教堂里一台坏了的风琴，这首曲子或许永远不会传到亚森朵夫以外的地区。一位来自另一个地区的专业风琴修理师为了修理这台风琴，在两地之间来回数次。有一次，他偶然听到《平安夜》并爱上它，于是就带了一份副本回去。而首歌也因此开始在奥地利流传。

Almost a hundred year later, Silent Night was known right across Europe.One Christmas Eve, during the terrible years of trench warfare in World War I, German soldiers began to sing the song to cheer themselves up. Across the battlefield, British soldiers heard and recognized the tune. They started to sing back in English. Later that day, the soldiers exchanged food and even played a friendly game of soccer!

近百年后，《平安夜》已传遍全欧洲。在第一次世界大战沟堑壕战的恐怖年代，一群德国士兵在某个圣诞夜里唱起《平安夜》来振奋自己。战场的另一头，英国士兵听到并认出这个曲调，开始回唱起英文版的《平安夜》。那天稍晚，这些士兵交换了储粮，甚至还踢了一场足球友谊赛呢!

Music is often said to soothe the savage beast. A magical number like Silent Night has shown that it may even, for a time, be able to stop the savagery of man.

音乐常被认为能安抚凶蛮的野兽，而像平安夜这样神奇的曲子显示了它有一度甚至还能制止人们的残暴。

−by Adam Moser & Robert Kelly

Vocabulary

单词发音

accompany [əˋkʌmpənɪ] v. 为……伴奏，为……伴唱

savage [ˋsævɪdʒ] adj. 野蛮的

scent [sɛnt] n. 气味，香味

joint [dʒɔɪnt] adj. 联合的，共同的

carol [ˋkærəl] n.（耶诞）颂歌；赞美诗

More Information

单词发音

surface in one's mind 浮现脑海

organ [ˋɔrgən] n. 管风琴，风琴

come across 偶然碰见 to find someone or something; to discover someone or something.

trench [trɛntʃ] n. 战壕

cheer a person up (使某人)更高兴或更快活 to make a sad person happy

soothe [suð] v. 安慰，抚慰

number [ˋnʌmbɚ] n. 演奏乐曲

for a time 一度, 曾经

savagery [ˋsævɪdʒərɪ] n. 野蛮﹐残暴（行为）

make a trip 旅行

Silent Night, Holy Night