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Santa Claus is a character who brings gifts to children during the holiday of Christmas.
圣诞老人是一个在圣诞节期间给孩子们带来礼物的角色。
During the holiday season, many performers play Santa.
在节日期间，许多表演者扮演圣诞老人。
They appear across the United States in stores, hotels, and other places to meet with children and ask them what Christmas gifts they want.
他们出现在美国各地的商店、酒店等地与孩子们见面，询问他们想要什么圣诞礼物。
This year, Santa performers are back after two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
今年，圣诞老人表演者在经历了两年的新冠疫情限制措施后又回来了。
But there are a few changes.
但是有一些变化。
Mitch Allen started a service that provides Santa performers called HireSanta.com.
米奇·艾伦创建了一个名为“HireSanta.com.”的服务平台，该平台提供圣诞老人表演者。
He has reported a 30 percent increase in demand this Christmas season over the last year.
他报告称，今年圣诞节的需求比去年增加了30%。
The company lost about 15 percent of its performers to retirement or death during the pandemic.
在疫情期间，因圣诞老人表演者退休或去世，该公司失去了约15%的表演者。
Allen has a Santa database of several thousand performers.
艾伦拥有一个包含数千名表演者的圣诞老人数据库。
It includes events at Bloomindale's main store in New York and many events at Marriott hotels.
其中包括在纽约的布鲁明戴尔百货总店举办的活动以及在万豪酒店举办的许多活动。
Most of the Santa performers with Allen have moved back to the tradition of having kids sit on their laps.
大多数和艾伦合作的圣诞老人表演者都恢复了让孩子坐在他们腿上的传统。
They are not considering COVID-19 infection in any major way, he said.
他说他们没有考虑以任何主要方式感染新冠病毒。
But Santas can choose to wear a face covering.
但圣诞老人可以选择戴口罩。
Chris Landtroop is a spokesperson with another agency that provides Santa performers, Cherry Hill Programs.
克里斯·兰德军是另一家提供圣诞老人表演者的机构Cherry Hill Programs的发言人。
She said the business's 1,400 Santas are working at more than 600 shopping centers this year.
她说，该公司的1400名圣诞老人今年在600多个购物中心工作。
"I can't even explain how excited we are to see everyone's smiles at all locations this season without anything covering up those beautiful faces," she said.
她说：“我甚至无法解释我们有多兴奋，因为在这个季节中，在没有任何东西遮住美丽面孔的情况下，我们在所有地方都能看到每个人的微笑。”
Cherry Hill Santas are also free to wear face coverings, Landtroop said.
兰德军说，Cherry Hill的圣诞老人也是自由选择是否戴口罩。
Some Santas are still keeping their distance.
有些圣诞老人仍然保持距离。
The Santa at Macy's main store in New York City will be seated behind a work station.
纽约梅西百货总店的圣诞老人将会坐在工作台后面。
So, there will be no lap visits there.
因此，那里的圣诞老人将不会让孩子坐在他们的腿上。
Some Santas who stayed home for the last two years out of concern for their health have returned.
有些圣诞老人过去两年因为担心自己的健康而待在家里，现在他们已经回来了。
But Allen said he is looking for new performers.
但艾伦表示，他正在寻找新的表演者。
Inflation has also made it difficult for people to continue performing.
通货膨胀也使人们很难继续表演。
Many are older, on fixed incomes, and travel long distances to perform.
许多人年纪较大，有固定的收入，需要长途跋涉来表演。
They spend hundreds of dollars on Santa clothing and other objects.
他们花费数百美元购买圣诞老人的衣服和其他物品。
"We're charging the clients slightly more and we're also paying our Santas slightly more," Allen said.
艾伦说：“我们向顾客收取的费用略高一些，我们向圣诞老人支付的费用也就会略高一些。”
Bookings for many Santas were made months ahead, and some work throughout the year.
许多圣诞老人都是提前几个月预订的，有些圣诞老人全年都在工作。
Allen's Santas will make from $5,000 to $12,000 for the season.
艾伦的圣诞老人本季的收入在5000美元到12000美元不等。
A few Santas told The Associated Press that the cost is not a problem.
一些圣诞老人告诉美联社，费用不是问题。
They are not in the Santa profession to make money but do it because they enjoy it.
他们扮演圣诞老人不是为了赚钱，而是因为他们喜欢这份工作。
Allen and other agencies are seeing more requests for Black, deaf, and Spanish-speaking Santa performers.
艾伦和其他机构发现越来越多的人要求黑人、聋人和说西班牙语的圣诞老人表演者。
Allen also knows a female Santa.
艾伦还认识一位女圣诞老人。
Eric Elliott and his wife Moeisha Elliott became professional Santas this year after first taking on the part as volunteers in 2007.
埃里克·埃利奥特和他的妻子莫伊莎·埃利奥特在2007年首次当志愿者扮演圣诞老人后，今年成为了职业的圣诞老人。
Both are retired military members.
两人都是退役军人。
They spent weeks in Santa Claus training.
他们花了几个星期的时间接受圣诞老人培训。
They learned American Sign Language and other ways to work with and perform to people with disabilities.
他们学习了美国手语和其他与残疾人一起工作和表演的方式。
Their work has included going to disaster areas with the Texas-based nonprofit Lone Star Santas to spread happiness during the holidays.
他们的工作包括与总部位于得克萨斯州的非营利性组织“Lone Star Santas”一起前往灾区，在节日期间传播快乐。
The Elliotts said breaking into the professional world as Santas for the first time and being Black has not been easy.
埃利奥特夫妇说，这是他们第一次以圣诞老人的身份进入专业领域，成为黑人并不容易。
For some people, Eric said, "We understand that we're not the Santa for you."
对有些人来说，埃里克说：“我们知道，我们不是你们想要的圣诞老人。”
I'm Gregory Stachel.
格雷戈里·施塔赫尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
