Letters to Santa Claus Flood Alaskan Town(28167)-英语教育-(64)-21英语网

　　EVERYONE knows Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. So letters sent to the roly-poly icon find their way to the small town of North Pole in Alaska, including those simply addressed to Santa. Last year, 120,000 letters arrived from 26 countries, not counting the thousands with no return address. 　　Those that do have return addresses usually get a reply and a North Pole postmark. 　　Letters trickle in year-round in the community of 1,600. Around Thanksgiving, they start pouring in by the thousands each day as Christmas approaches. Even stampless letters get through, a rare exception for the US Postal Service. 　　"This is special because it has Santa's name on it. It's what makes Christmas magic for children, why not make that available for them?" said Debra Cornelius, a supervisor at the main post office in nearby Fairbanks. 　　Gabby Gaborik is among several dozen volunteers who wrote back to the children. With 6,000 now arriving daily, volunteers are hustling to send off pre-printed replies to children who sent return addresses. 　　"We try to keep the big guy mystical, so we sign off as Santa's elves and helpers," Gaborik said. 　　

(China Daily Dec 11,2006)

　　人人都知道圣诞老人居住在北极，因此写给这个矮矮胖胖老人的信件会被送往阿拉斯加州的小镇——北极镇，其中许多信件的收信人地址一栏只写了“圣诞老人收”。去年，小镇共收到12万封来自世界26个国家的信，这还不包括未写明寄信人地址的数千封信。　　那些写有回信地址的信件通常会收到盖有北极镇邮戳的回信。一年中，总会有信件被断断续续地寄到这个拥有1600名居民的小镇。感恩节前后，随着圣诞节的临近，每天有数千封信件涌入小镇，甚至还有一些信件没有粘贴邮票，这在美国邮政局的服务中是非常罕见的。　　“这些信件因为写有圣诞老人的名字而变得特别。给圣诞老人写信会让孩子们感受到圣诞节的魅力，何乐而不为呢?”费尔班克斯邮局负责人德布拉科尔内留斯说。　　北极镇有许多代替圣诞老人给孩子们回信的志愿者。加比加布里克就是志愿者中的一员。现在志愿者们每天能收到6000封信左右，他们会按孩子们的地址快速将提前印好的回信寄出。　　“为了保持圣诞老人的神秘感，我们在信末会署名‘圣诞精灵'或‘圣诞助手'。”加布里克说。　　　　