For more than a century, it was a simple way of making a child's dreams come true during Christmas. Volunteers could go to the post office, sift through piles of letters that children had sent to Santa Claus and pick one — or more — that tugged at their heartstrings. Gifts were then acquired, wrapped and shipped to families whose space beneath the tree might otherwise be bare.
一个多世纪以来，这一直是让孩子们在圣诞节梦想成真的一种简单方法。志愿者可以去邮局，从孩子们寄给圣诞老人的一堆堆信件中挑出一封或多封感动他们的信件。然后他们会收集礼物，包装好，运送到那些圣诞树下可能空无一物的家庭。
With the coronavirus pandemic still raging, however, the US Postal Service announced Monday that it was taking its annual "Operation Santa" campaign nationwide, and that letters to Santa could be read exclusively online by people across the country.
然而，随着新冠疫情的肆虐，美国邮政总局11月16日宣布，一年一度的“圣诞老人行动” 今年将在全美各地开展，而且寄给圣诞老人的信件将由全美各地的人们在网上阅读。
Some things aren't changing: Much as it had over the past 108 years, the Postal Service said that it was inviting American children to write letters and to mail them to the North Pole, using a special address and ZIP code and affixing the proper postage.
有些事情没有改变：就像过去108年里一样，美国邮政总局表示，将邀请美国儿童写信并寄往北极，这些信件使用特殊的地址和邮政编码，并贴上适当的邮资。
This year, however, the letters will be uploaded to the Operation Santa website, so long as they are legible and make specific requests for items like toys, clothes or games. Starting December 4, postal customers can then read them and choose to send gifts with their responses, with a signature saying it's from Santa.
但今年，只要内容清晰可读，并提出具体的礼物要求，如玩具、衣服或游戏等，这些信件将被上传到“圣诞老人行动”网站上。从12月4日开始，邮政客户可以阅读这些邮件，并选择将回信连同礼物一起寄出去，并签上圣诞老人的大名。
"Covid-19 has caused undue hardships, both financial and emotional, to so many Americans this year," Kimberly Frum, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said in an email. "The program provides kids and families with an opportunity to receive gifts during the holidays from anonymous, generous postal customers."
美国邮政总局的发言人金伯利·弗鲁姆在一封电子邮件中说：“今年暴发的新冠肺炎让如此多的美国人遭受了经济和情感上的过多困难。这个活动为孩子和家庭提供了一个在节日期间从慷慨的匿名邮政客户那里收礼物的机会。”
Those customers used to review the letters in person, but Operation Santa has moved largely online in recent years after a pilot program in 2017. By 2019, the online operation had expanded to 15 cities, including New York, Chicago, Denver and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to, "enhance the ability for generous people across the nation to help those in need no matter where they live," Frum said.
这些客户过去通常会亲自查看信件，但在2017年的一个试点项目后，“圣诞老人行动”近年来已经基本上转移到了网上。弗鲁姆说，到2019年，在线活动已经扩展到15个城市，包括纽约、芝加哥、丹佛和密歇根州大急流城等地，“以扩大全国各地慷慨的人们对那些有需要的人提供帮助的能力范围，不管他们住在哪里”。
So-called legacy programs still operated in New York and Chicago, where customers could go to a post office to read letters in person, but those programs will not be offered this year because of the pandemic, Frum said.
弗鲁姆说，所谓的遗产项目仍在纽约和芝加哥实施，客户可以到邮局亲自阅读信件，但由于新冠疫情，今年将不提供这一服务。
Widespread job losses have contributed to a situation in which 1 in 8 families don't have enough to eat. Though jobs have started to return, with last month's jobs report showing a full percentage point drop in the unemployment rate, the number of long-term unemployed people — those out of work for more than half a year — rose by 50% to 3.6 million. And a steep increase in coronavirus cases in recent weeks threatens those fragile economic gains.
大规模失业造成美国八分之一的家庭食物不足。尽管就业形势已开始好转，上个月的就业报告显示失业率下降了整整一个百分点，但长期失业人数（即失业半年以上的人数）上升了50%，达到360万人。最近几周新冠肺炎病例的急剧增加威胁到了这些脆弱的经济成果。
The Postal Service said the Operation Santa program had received hundreds of thousands of letters each year.
美国邮政总局表示，“圣诞老人行动”每年都会收到数十万封信件。
"It seems like a small thing," Frum said. "But for anyone who is struggling, it's a huge deal to be able to give or receive a gift and share in a bit of the joy that is the holiday season."
弗鲁姆说：“这似乎是一件小事，但对于那些正在苦苦挣扎的人来说，能够送出或收到一份礼物，分享节日里的一点快乐非常重要。”
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