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[quote="浅酌低唱"]我们搬进现在的房子3年多了；06，07年都收到邻居老夫妇的Christmas letter。邻居老太太08年去世，我们没收到. 今年原以为不会再收到了，今天开信箱意外发现老头写来了,有点感动。

Family, friends and neighbors, good cheer!

I think Carol would want me to continue the tradition of the Christmas letter. and i want to, too. But it's not easy now to get started. by now she would have given me a first draft, and i would have been hooked. 以前的信都是老太太写的。她是法语和音乐的双学士。他们二战结束后，47还是48年结的婚。我们搬来之后很少看到老太太，大约是病在家里了，直到有一天救护车出现，不久就听说老太太去世的消息。

Another problem: the seasonal letter - mine and yours - is usually 80% devoted to trips and travel. in the last 12 months, the dentist's office in Copley square, Boston, is about as far as i have ventured into the blue beyond. but life can be good and meaningful even within small circumference. this letter is to report that it is true for me.

family, friends, church and neighborhood all make me feel that i am important to them beyond any rational design. D*** and Di*** visit weekly. M**** arrives at least monthly from Brooklyn. i talk with R*** and L*** in Maine, with B*** in Vermont, and by email with J*** in New Mexico. with the younger generation, there is Facebook; but somehow i don't  get the hand of Facebook. I'll keep trying, but don't anybody count on it. i enjoy- and am intellectually stimulated by - regular phone conversations with J**** in Berkeley. 他的儿女住在Boston，老太太去世后就经常看到他们回来。

Locally, without a car, i often feel quite helpless. But friends invite me to their homes, or take me out to lunch. i still walk to the T station, the post office, the ATM, barber shop and CVS. Snowy, icy roads are a problem. i was laughed at recently when i said i finally understood why the elderly wintered in Florida. 老头07年把车卖了，说不需要了。94，95的他身体看起来还不错，这次下雪他还出来铲雪；不但铲自己门前的，还铲到我家门前的人行道。比起只铲自家范围的我来说，照出了我的小。

i regularly get a ride to church on Sunday with D***. the church community in Quincy could almost be called my extended family. i am referred to as their oldest active member. "Activity" is limited, however, by my ever worsening hearing problem. Asked to help with the church school, i had to decline. children's voices are quite unintelligible to me. and this hearing problem usually applies to what goes on in any committees i still attend. 他的听力曾严重打击我对话的勇气。刚开始我不知道他耳朵有点聋，跟他说话老是要我重复或者听成其他东西，我还以为自己连简单的英语都说不好。

The church email chat list means a lot to me, tying me in with individual happenings and group concerns. (Occasionally i make an observation of my own-very profoundly, of course!)

Neighbors are one of the reasons i am happy to stay here. they are all so great. this year, on this street, i enjoyed being a member of a graduation party for a high school student. i was happy to offer my unused driveway for off-street parking. 这party我的另一篇日记说到。我们清理路边的杂草，种花，装太阳能行道灯等等都曾出现在他的Christmas letter里。

One neighbor and very good friend, W***, is sadly missing. he died in July of a suddenly appearing intestinal cancer.

This year we (I still find myself saying "we") we put new shingles on the roof and new oil tank in the cellar. to install the latter, it was necessary to remove a section of the cellar stairs. i wondered if i should lock the upper door until they were replaced! today, from the window of a taxi, i noted that at every house in Quincy they have done a better job of leaf-raking than have i. oh well, maybe i have more trees. 他家的一部分草地跟我家的是连在一起的，我割的时候就顺便一起收拾了。

Kitchen, laundry, Carol's house plants, and general house/home maintenance keep me very occupied. it reminds me daily of how much Caril did that i never adequately appreciated. everybody keeps giving me lovely things to eat. all items help to supplement my own adequate but not too inspired cooking. 老两口耄耋情深可见一斑。给他送过饺子。

Repeating what i said last year, my travel is accomplished in my reading, usually in the evening in my cozy and warm upholstered chair downstairs. for days this year, in the Indian Ocean, i sailed at the helm of a commercial two-masted schooner.(LeClezio, The Prospector). Recently, i played cards with George Washington, on his way to his first inaugural. it was in a farmhouse in Delaware. i was surprised to observe that Washington stood six-feet-four. (Michener, Chesapeake). so i do get around a little. 我也想老了，有时间了看看书养养花呢。

this meandering letter already imposes too much on your time this hectic season. but i cannot end it without sharing a glance at the outside world. the Copenhagen Conference brings a new recognition - both popular and official - that the problems of human survival are global. i doubt they can be effectively addressed without a democratic government at the global level. i still am somewhat active with the World Citizens Party for a Democratic World Federal Government. May its call resonate worldwide from many lands. 老头还挺关心时事的，我以为他会说这是你们的事，我不管了呢。

Peace - and a Great New Year![/quote]

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