Christmas, the Season of Joy

Christmas is the season of joy, of gift-giving, and of families united.

This year, Lin and I are in Singapore for the festive season. We want to savor the Christmas spirit and the atmosphere here and to recollect what we have missed in the last forty-odd years that we have settled in Auckland, New Zealand.

(Chinese) 今年，玉连和我是在新加坡度过 2019 年度的圣诞节日。
我们想回顾一下我们四十多年前在新加坡的经历。

How things have changed in the name of progress? There are noticeable more people on the roads, more high rise residential blocks in newer housing estates, more cars on the roads, and more efficient public transportation in the form of buses and the underground trains. The Christmas period now has also seen a lot of tourists visiting the Island Republic.

(Chinese) 以进步的名义发生了什么变化？道路上的人越来越多，新型住宅区中的高层住宅区越来越多，道路上的汽车越来越多，公共汽车和地下火车等形式的公共交通效率更高。在圣诞节期间，现在也有很多游客参观这个小岛屿新加波共和国。

Noticeable improvement to the environment is the absence of roadside hawkers. The hawker centers, like the open-air one, once occupying a central spot along Orchard Road, are now replaced by air-conditioned food courts in shopping centers. A good example of such a food court is the ‘Food Republic’ located on the entire sixth floor of a shopping complex next door to Orchard Gateway. The meals at such foodcourts bear the same name as those from the 1960s but somehow, most of the tastes of the past have flown out of the window. That said, there are some exceptions in areas like Chinatown and in Tiong Bahru. Some, like the Toast Box as an example, form part of franchised chains to carry on the food served by the old traditional Coffee Shops, Pork Bone Soups (Ba Kut Teh), Rice Steamed Noodle (Choo Cheong Fen), and Hokkien Mee (fried prawn noodles).

(Chinese) 环境的明显改善是没有路边小贩。小贩中心就像露天的小贩中心一样，曾经占据乌节路的中心地带，现在被购物中心的空调美食广场所取代。这样的美食广场就是一个很好的例子，它位于乌节 Gateway 隔壁的一家购物中心的整个六楼。在这样的美食广场上用餐的名字与1960年代的名字相同，但不知何故，过去的大多数口味都已淡出人们的视野。也就是说，在唐人街和中巴鲁等地区也有一些例外。其中一些（例如以烤面包盒为例）形成了特许连锁店的一部分，以承接旧的传统咖啡店，猪肉骨汤（排骨茶），大米粉（猪肠粉）和福建面（炸虾面条）。

Every day we visit food courts all over the Island and we taste all the meals that we have missed in Auckland, like Mee Goring (Indian fried noodles), Hainanese Chicken Rice, Po Pien (spring roll), Rojak (local fruit salad), Kopi (Coffee + soft boiled eggs + kaya toasts), variety of nonya-type cakes, and Chinese desserts like sesami soap, dow suan (chicken pea soap) and muah chee (peanut covered fried dough). https://sethlui.com/hougang-6-miles-famous-muah-chee-last-traditional-muah-chee-stall-singapore/

(Chinese) 每天，我们都会巡视整个岛上的美食广场，并品尝我们在奥克兰错过的所有美食，例如 Mee Goring（印度炒面），H
海南鸡饭，薄饼（春卷），Rojak（当地水果沙拉）， Kopi（咖啡+煮熟的鸡蛋+ kaya吐司），各种各样的娘惹蛋糕和中式甜品，如芝麻皂，dow suan（鹰嘴豆皂）和 muah chee（花生盖的油炸面团）。

The Christmas hymns form the background music of all departmental stores, shopping centers, and foodcourts. We listened to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, Dean Martin’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and John Denver’s Twelve Days of Christmas, all in the English Language, and everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike are enjoying the music, the lyrics and some are humming away in unison.

圣诞节赞美诗构成所有百货商店，购物中心和美食广场的背景音乐。我们听了宾格·克罗斯比（Bing Crosby）的白色圣诞节，迪恩·马丁（Dean Martin）的红鼻子驯鹿鲁道夫（Rudolph）和约翰·丹佛（John Denver）的圣诞节十二日（Twelve Days Christmas），都是英语，所有人，基督徒和非基督徒都喜欢音乐，歌词，还有一致嗡嗡作响。

Christmas, together with the New Year theme spreads into local areas too. The modernized local libraries have given emphasis to the story of Christ’s birth with recommended books on this topic. Christmas season and been modernized too.

圣诞节以及新年主题也蔓延到当地。现代化的地方图书馆特别推荐了有关基督诞生的故事的书籍。圣诞节，也进行了现代化。

(Chinese) 当地图书馆也已经现代化。在这里查看巴西立当地图书馆的照片。

Changi Airport is in the Christmas mood too. The latest Terminal 1, The Jewel Connection, has a theme for every day until the New Year of 2020. Besides the decorative Christmas lights, there are the continuous special effects sound shows every evening, known collectively as ‘The Sparkling Wonders of Christmas’. The family cinema hall there also features special Christmas children’s stories and the restaurants and food halls have Christmas special meals for their patrons.

樟宜机场也有圣诞节气氛。最新的1号航站楼The Jewel Connection，直到2020年新年之前，每天都有一个主题。除了装饰性的圣诞灯外，每天晚上还有连续的特殊效果声音表演，统称为“圣诞节的奇观”。那里的家庭电影院还设有特殊的圣诞节儿童故事，餐厅和美食厅为顾客提供圣诞节特别餐。

In the meantime, the festive mood can also be felt at those massive underground train construction projects currently in progress along the East Coast and the Thomson Road areas. Those steel piles retaining walls of the construction works have extended way beyond and above the road levels, decoratively painted to reflect the joyous atmosphere of the populace. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/new-mrt-stations-lines-lta-master-plan-11564622

同时，在东海岸和汤姆森路地区正在进行的大规模地下火车建设项目中，也可以感受到节日气氛。那些建筑工程中的钢桩挡土墙已经延伸到了道路高度之上和之上，并进行了装饰性涂漆，以反映民众的欢乐气氛。

And finally, the image of Singapore as a green and clean City still persists. Besides the green lush outskirt areas, there are many greenery planted at various immediate levels of high rise residential blocks to consolidate this green and clean image, welcoming many tourists from all over the world. It has been said that the number of tourists at any one time during this Christmas to New Year period accounts for more than half of the total population of Singaporeans. Singapore is indeed a Green City in spite of the fact that the population of Singapore (inclusive of visitors) numbers well over seven million in an Island the size of New Zealand’s Lake Taupo - Singapore’s 721 square kilometers as compared to Lake Taupo’s 616 square kilometers.

最后，新加坡仍然是绿色清洁城市的形象。除了郁郁葱葱的郊区地区之外，在高层住宅楼的各个直接位置上还种植了许多绿化植物，以巩固这种绿色和清洁的形象，并欢迎来自世界各地的许多游客。据说，圣诞节到新年期间，任何时间的游客人数占新加坡人总人数的一半以上。尽管新加坡的人口总数（包括游客在内）已超过700万人，但新加坡的确是一个绿色城市。新西兰的陶波湖面积达710万平方公里，而陶波湖的616平方公里却是新加坡的721平方公里。

The most striking and noticeable fact during this time in Singapore is that Christmas is celebrated by all the population, Christians and non-Christians alike. Here at www.u-write-read.com, we wish every reader a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2020 New Year.

在这段时间里，新加坡最引人注目的事实是，圣诞节由所有人，无论基督徒还是非基督徒都庆祝。在这里www.u-write-read.com，我们祝每个读者圣诞快乐，并祝2020年新年快乐。

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
The first Noel the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay:
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!l

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east beyond them far
And to the earth, it gave great light
And so it continued both day and night
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star
Three Wise men came from country far
To seek for a King was their intent
And to follow the star wherever it went
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

This star drew nigh to the northwest
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both stop and stay
Right o’er the place where Jesus lay
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!
Noel,… The First Noel, https://youtu.be/0u5UvnKlCTA

教會聖詩集 - 聖誕佳音 The First Noel https://youtu.be/dCiG7UDO-A4

天使初報聖誕佳音，
先向田間貧苦牧人，
牧人正當看守羊群，
嚴冬方冷長夜已深，
歡欣，歡欣，歡欣，歡欣，
天國君王今日降生。
牧人擡頭見一景星，
遠在東方燦爛晶明，
發出奇光照耀世塵，
不分晝夜光彩永恆，
歡欣，歡欣，歡欣，歡欣，
天國君王今日降生。