湖北省潜江市园林高级中学 倪达虎 供稿

There was a kindly nobleman whose wife had died of an illness，leaving the nobleman and his three daughters in despair.很久很久以前有一个心地善良的贵族，他的妻子因病去逝，留下他和他的三个女儿。

After losing all his money in useless and bad inventions，the family had to move into a peasant’s cottage，where the daughters did their own cooking，sewing and cleaning.这个贵族喜欢尝试创造发明，但是都失败了，也因此耗尽了家里的钱财，所以他和女儿们不得不搬到一家农舍里生活，三个女儿也只得自己做饭、缝衣服、打扫屋子。

When time came for the daughters to marry，the father became even more depressed as his daughters could not marry without dowries.一晃几年过去，女儿们陆续到了出嫁的年龄，父亲却变得更加沮丧，因为他没钱给女儿们买嫁妆。

One night after the daughters had washed their clothing，they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry.一天晚上，女儿们洗完衣服后将长统袜挂在壁炉前烘干。

That night，Saint Nicholas，knowing the despair of the father，stopped by the nobleman’s house.圣人尼古拉斯知道了他们的境遇，于是，那天晚上他驾着雪橇来到他们的家门前。

Looking into the window，Saint Nicholas saw that the family had gone to bed.He also noticed the daughters’stockings.他从窗口看到一家人都睡着了，同时也注意到了女孩们的长统袜。

Inspiration struck Saint Nicholas and he took three small bags of gold from his pouch and threw them one by one down the chimney and they landed in the stockings.于是，他从口袋里掏出三小包黄金从烟囱上一个个投下去，刚好掉在女孩们的长统袜里。

The next morning，the daughters found their stockings full of gold，enough for them to buy dowries.Their father was glad to see the daughters’marriage.From then on，the whole family lived a happy life together.第二天早上，女儿们醒来发现她们的长统袜里装满了金子，足够供她们买嫁妆了。父亲也因此能亲眼看到女儿们出嫁了。从此，一家人又过上了幸福快乐的生活。

链 接

后来，世界各地的孩子们都继承了悬挂圣诞袜的传统。圣诞节那天有些国家的孩子则有其它类似的风俗，如在法国，孩子们将鞋子放在壁炉旁等等。