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● 这一段讲种种声音。
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● hymns：圣歌。tinkling：叮叮咚咚的声音。music box：八音盒（开发条以后发出简单的曲调声音）。
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● Hosanna：希伯来文颂赞上帝之声。原意是“求主救苦救难”。
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● This is the way we wash our clothes…：这是一支简单的儿歌，小孩一面唱一面模仿洗衣服的动作。注意这里的the way同第一段里的the way可以相互参证。
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● 儿童不知赞美上帝，但是他们心里的快乐，其实就是对于造物主的一种赞美。因此八音盒里所奏的虽然只是一支小小儿歌，事实上这就是赞美上帝的颂词。
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● in English和in the child’s language of gladness前后对照。儿歌是用英文唱的，赞美上帝的颂词是用哪一国话说的呢？儿童赞美上帝是在心里，八音盒所奏的音乐，是用儿童“心里的语言”来赞美上帝的。儿童心里，纯然欢乐，所以说是“儿童心里欢乐的语言了”。
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Christmas is tastes—the round, golden taste of the orange—the taste of the perfect sphere, which has hung among the green leaves in the warm sun. It is the red-and-white-striped taste of peppermint. It is the sharp, sweet juice of the apple from the toe of the stocking. Many tastes must blend to make the taste of Christmas.
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● round, golden taste of the orange：圆是橙子的形状，金黄是橙子的色泽，怎么橙子的味道成了round, golden taste呢？这样把感觉印象错综的应用，近人作品（尤其是新诗）中例子很多，望读者善加体会。
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● the perfect sphere：圆满的球形（这里把橙子当做一种几何形体）。
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● peppermint：薄荷糖。red-and-white-striped：红条白条相间隔的（糖的形状）。
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● sharp：（味道）强烈的，辛辣的。这里作“苹果原味极重的”解。toe袜子的尖头部分。stocking：盛礼物的袜子。
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Christmas is sights; who can tell of the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child?
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● sights：所看到的东西，形形色色。tell of：描述。reflected：反映。圣诞节可看的东西太多，作者不一一列举。
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Christmas is being together—gathering together. You do not have to tell a child what this means, and at Christmas, if at no other time, all men are children.
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● being together：阖家团圆。
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● if at no other time：有些人主张大人和小孩本来没有多少分别，这句话在平时是否恰当，姑且不论，至少到了圣诞节，大人都成了小孩子了。
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Because it is the child’s day, the coming of Christmas up the white steps of December transforms mothers and fathers into the children they once were—until at last, on Christmas Eve, their caroling beside the tree is with the earnest voice of childhood. And the tears in their eyes are once again the tears caused by great expectations of wondrous things to come.
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● Because：既然。
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● the coming of Christmas up the white steps of December：作者把十二月比作一座白色的台阶，日子一天一天地过去，圣诞节一天一天接近，好像是圣诞节沿着台阶一步一步地走上来似的。这样一个譬喻，放在诗里也许是“绝妙好辞”，放在这样一篇散文里，是否妥当，请读者自己评判。不过散文里乱用“诗的譬喻”（poetic images），是一种很危险的尝试，至少初学者应该谨慎避免。
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● transforms：使……变化；它的主语是coming。they once were：（定语从句）大人一度都曾经是小孩子。圣诞节日益迫近，父亲母亲的心情都渐渐返老还童，到了圣诞前夕，变化已经无可再变（until：至此为止），他们都成了小孩子；他们在圣诞树边上唱圣诗（caroling）的时候，就是用童年时候纯真的歌喉来唱的。他们唱歌的时候眼睛里含着眼泪，他们热烈地期待着神奇的事情发生，因此和童年时候一样（once again），眼泪不得不流出来了。
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If children could speak—or if anybody could—what would be said on Christmas Day would be the book that all books would be. But who can say, with words, what children feel, what Christmas means to them and to us? There are no words for it.
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● speak：把心里的话讲出来。if anybody could：谁真能把心里的话讲出来呢？小孩固然不能，大人又何尝能呢？could：违反事实的假定。
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● what would be said on Christmas day：主语从句，主词格，它的动词是紧跟在它后面的would be。
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● 圣诞节可说的话太多了，可讲的道理太深了，这些话要是说出来，就可以成一部书，这部书可以把天下所有的书的道理统统包括在内。“that all books would be”的that代替the book，all books恐怕是补足语（subjective complement），放在动词的前面，“这部书将要成为天下所有的书”。
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And yet children say it all—with meaning straight and clear—when they say only, “Merry Christmas.”
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