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In Moore’s New York, which was experiencing a destabilising population boom, gangs would carouse in wealthy neighbourhoods on Christmas.
摩尔时代的纽约，人口激增带来不稳定因素，街头混混会在圣诞节时在富人的社区狂欢。
The Knickerbockers sought to do away with that noisy tradition and reshape the holiday.
尼克博克成员们试图摒弃这一喧闹的传统并重新改造圣诞节。
With “A Visit from St Nicholas”, Moore helped inspire its transformation from “a public, rowdy celebration in the streets into a kind of respectable, domestic Christmas”, says Thomas Ruys Smith, a professor at the University of East Anglia.
东安格利亚大学教授托马斯·鲁伊斯·史密斯表示，凭借《圣尼古拉斯的来访》，摩尔启发人们将这个节日从“喧闹的街头公开庆祝活动，转变为体面的充满家庭气氛的圣诞节”。
That makes him “the foundational writer of Christmas in the 19th century”, argues Mr Smith.
史密斯认为，这使摩尔成为“19世纪圣诞节的奠基性作家”。
“A Visit from St Nicholas” is more sophisticated than its 56 lines suggest.
《圣尼古拉斯的来访》的内涵比56行诗句所表达的更为丰富。
Moore sets his story at home, which replaced the street and pub as the site of Christmas festivities in the Victorian era.
摩尔将故事发生的地点设定在家里，从而把圣诞节的庆祝地点从维多利亚时代的街头和酒吧变成了家中。
He presents Santa Claus coming down the chimney not with a rod to punish wrongdoing but instead with a “sleigh full of toys”.
他描绘了圣诞老人从烟囱里爬下来的场景，圣诞老人不是拿着棍子来惩罚恶行，而是带着一辆装满玩具的雪橇。
Moore’s St Nick is somewhere between a folkloric creature and the modern department-store Santa: “chubby and plump”, yes, but “a right jolly old elf”, who flies in a “miniature sleigh” pulled by “tiny” reindeer.
摩尔笔下的圣尼古拉斯是一个介于民间传说中的生物和现代百货公司的圣诞老人之间的形象：他确实是“胖乎乎的、圆滚滚的”，但也是“一个乐呵呵的精灵老人”，坐着由“小”驯鹿拉的“微型雪橇”飞来飞去。
Rather than looking like a fourth-century bishop or sporting the candy-cane colours he would later receive from illustrators, Moore’s St Nick bears all the signs of a working man.
摩尔的圣尼古拉斯看起来既不像四世纪的主教，也不像后来插画中画的那样，一身拐杖糖果的花花绿绿的颜色，而是有着劳动人民的所有特征。
He looks “like a peddler just opening his pack”, wearing an outfit “all tarnished with ashes and soot” and smoking a “stump of a pipe”.
他看起来“就像一个刚刚打开背包的小贩”，穿着一身“沾满了灰尘和煤烟”的衣服，抽着一根“短烟斗”。
(Long pipes were reserved for gentlemen.)
(长烟斗只有绅士才能抽。)
A certain paternalistic vision may underlay this humbling of St Nick; he is a friendly version of the peasants who took over their masters’ houses.
圣尼古拉斯形象的谦卑化可能是以家长主义的想象为基础，他是之前那些闯入主人家中的农民的友好型版本。
But instead of asking for something, he gives.
但他没有索要什么，而是给予了很多东西。
Moore draws the focus away from the holiday’s subversive spirit and “creates this form of gift-giving and people coming to your door in ways that aren’t threatening”, says Maria Kennedy, an expert on folklore at Rutgers University.
罗格斯大学民俗学专家玛丽亚·肯尼迪说，摩尔让人们不再关注圣诞节的颠覆性精神，并“创造了这种赠送礼物的庆祝形式，人们以不再具有威胁性的方式来到你家门口。”
(Who could fear a guy whose belly jiggles “like a bowl full of jelly”?)
(谁会害怕一个肚子“像一碗果冻一样”颤动的家伙呢？)
Moore also scrubs St Nick and the holiday of virtually all religious associations, a move that might have contributed to its broad appeal.
摩尔还洗去了圣尼古拉斯和圣诞节的几乎所有宗教色彩，这一举措可能促使这个节日拥有了广泛的吸引力。
Cleansed of class conflict and freed from theological baggage, this was a more appealing Christmas.
清除了阶级冲突，摆脱了神学包袱，就有了这个更具有吸引力的圣诞节。
The poem immediately proved popular, spreading in the American press at a speed “more rapid than eagles” (as Moore described St Nick’s sleigh).
这首诗很快就广为传诵，在美国报刊上以"比鹰还快的"(摩尔对圣尼古拉斯的雪橇的描述)速度传播开来。
In the 1850s “A Visit from St Nicholas” was widely reprinted in Britain.
在19世纪50年代，《圣尼古拉斯的来访》在英国被广泛转载。
Prince Albert might have set down the German roots of the Christmas tree in Britain, but it was Moore’s poem that inspired Britons to hang stockings.
阿尔伯特王子可能把源自德国的圣诞树带到了英国，但英国人在圣诞节挂袜子的灵感正是来自摩尔的诗。（注：德国的阿尔伯特王子与维多利亚女王结婚后，将德国的圣诞树传统带入英国王室，从此英国普通人家也开始装饰圣诞树。）
Two hundred years on, merry misrule is safely consigned to memory, and Moore’s vision of Christmas has become widespread.
两百年过去了，狂欢骚乱的圣诞节被安全地封存于记忆中，而摩尔对圣诞节的想象则变得广为流传。
Yet the poem has not yet reached its peak.
然而，这首诗还没有达到顶峰。
Sally Veillette, a native of Troy, has commissioned new translations of the poem in 20 languages, including in Italy’s Sicilian dialect and India’s Malayalam.
萨莉·维耶特的家乡是特洛伊镇，她找人将这首诗翻译成了20种语言，包括意大利的西西里岛方言和印度的马拉雅拉姆语。
They are available in print and as animated e-books, complete with jingling holiday music.
这些译诗有纸质版本，也有动画电子书版本，还配上了圣诞节的铃铛音乐。
In 2023 Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, officially proclaimed December 23rd “’Twas the Night Before Christmas Day”.
2023年，纽约市市长埃里克·亚当斯在12月23日的官方发言中提到了“那是圣诞节前夜”。
Even the First Lady is getting involved, with early editions of the poem on display at the White House.
就连第一夫人也与这首诗有联系，诗歌的早期版本在白宫展出。
Moore might have preferred to be remembered for his work compiling the first American Hebrew dictionary or for his philanthropy.
摩尔可能更希望世人记住他编纂了第一本美国的希伯来语词典或他做了很多慈善事业。
But books have their own destinies, as the saying goes. Poems do, too.
但正如俗话所说，书籍有自己的命运。诗歌也是如此。
“A Visit from St Nicholas” does not just describe a Christmas miracle: in its extraordinary success and cultural impact, it is one, too.
《圣尼古拉斯的来访》不仅描述了一个圣诞奇迹，这首诗取得了非凡的成功、产生了深远的文化影响，它本身也是一个奇迹。
