发表评论-儿歌荟萃-万维博客-万维读者网（电脑版）

Christmas break this year for school was an all-time short. In total, the students received a whopping nine days off, and they were all required to return on January 2^nd, the next Monday after the New Year of 2107. Not only does it force the students to think about school more often, but it also makes us want the most out of the vacation, which ironically has it all less of a vacation. Therefore, there isn't really much of a bright side to this year's ending.

Yet Mother is never quite bored on Christmas since we always appear to be making a mad dash out of the country. This time around, we are simply heading to L.A., which is not as far as others may expect of us.

But seriously, what's in L.A.?

Well, for one, there's an observatory.

Up to a fairly large Mount Hollywood, which is fairly common on the West Coast, sat the Griffith Observatory. It is an enormous science area of looking at the stars. Nowadays, it has been converted into a museum. Being quite interested in space and celestial science, the museum provided a lot of fascinating proven theories and the history of the universe, including a long corridor of Cosmic Connection mapping the timeline from the Big Bang. There was a complete rundown on meteorites, comets, and the planets in our solar system in a giant exhibition room following the hallway, where people stared up at models of each planet. Interestingly enough, I don't think the observatory did one for Pluto.

A complete periodic table room was shown next, with a sample of every element within each small box. I don't know about other people but isn't Mercury very bad for us, and half of the elements are very reactive to the air? Therefore, I wasn't quite thrilled about a picture standing next to it. Nevertheless, what intrigued me the most was the outside view. To start, we could see the bright sun starting down at the L.A. skyscrapers and the endless packed houses. Turning around, however, it was the famous, cinematic Hollywood Sign. Sitting on the side of the tallest Mount Lee in the area, it stood out from the countryside, like a celebrity at a party. Every movie about an earthquake, war, zombie apocalypse, alien abduction, etc., usually has this sign shaken to the ground, blown up, torn apart, run other, or vandalized. Even some movies with romance or deeper meanings have the Hollywood Sign as a symbol. And other than a biting wind, it was a perfect day to see the sign.

I find it quite odd that one of the American famous symbols was simply just a sign, supported in bars, and slapped on the side of a hill. Yet I can finally say I saw it in person, which is a feat that has eluded me for a long time. Even if the Griffith Observatory didn't allow its visitors to look at the stars or the wonders above on Christmas Eve, it still showed me an American wonder, the one that is down to earth and as stunning as the stars.

【红霞译文】

洛杉矶(意指“天使”)是啥玩艺？让我想一下，就其名称便可看出它是座城市，少不了海滩。

今年圣诞节假期可谓有史以来最短的一次，学生们前后仅能享用短短的九天休息时间，2017阳历年元旦过后次日即星期一立刻返校报到，这么做无非迫使大家铭记课业在身，敦促我们赶紧收心尽忠本分，结果让原来欠长的假日愈发短得可怜，岁末日子真不过瘾。

然而母亲对圣诞节从未感到无聊，因为我们总是风尘仆仆奔赴国外度假，今年赶在这个节骨眼上，全家干脆集结天使城，并非像其他人想象得那么远。

但说真的，天使城到底有什么？

噢对了，天文台。

格里菲斯“强主”天文台坐落在相对较高的好莱坞(意指“冬青灌木林”)山上，也就是通常人们所说的西海岸边，那里有大片地盘被用来科学观测天宇行星，如今早已转化成博物馆，若对天体科学感兴趣的话，该博物馆提供许多丰富多彩的宇宙理论及其自然史演变过程，长长的宇宙连接走廊甚至展示出大爆炸时间表，通道尽端巨大展厅中陈设太阳系各种陨石、彗星及行星模型供游人参观，耐人寻味的是，天文台好像并没有把冥王星纳入其中。

接下来可以浏览的还有完整周期表展厅，每一个化学元素狭小橱窗里都有样品出示，我不知道别人作何感想，水银不是非常有害而多半化学元素还能与空气发生反应吗？所以让我跟这些玩艺拍照怎么会开心起来。不管说什么，最吸引我的倒是户外景致，明媚的阳光把天使城林立栉比的高楼大厦照耀得美轮美奂；转过身来，出镜率极高的著名“冬青灌木林” 标志夺人眼球，它矗立于附近最高峰李山腰间，如同聚会中闪亮登场的当红明星一样堪称郊外奇葩，该字样时常夹杂在有关地震、战争、僵尸来袭、外星人绑架等相关场景中，极尽颠覆摧毁粉碎袭击或破坏之能事，不过有些浪漫乃至寓意深刻的电影也使用这一字样。要不是冷风飕飕，今天当该属于观望“冬青灌木林”标志的大好日子。

我十分惊讶地发觉，如此代表美国人心声的东西竟是一块宛如酒吧横匾被钉到岩石上的标牌，但我总算承认自己亲眼看到并完成了梦寐以求的夙愿。即使圣诞前夜“凶猛的酋长”天文台提前关闭望远镜致使观众难于遨游天空，我依旧欣赏到具有美利坚特色的人文作品，一个像星星闪亮近在咫尺的奇异景观。

Christmas Eve in History(历史上的平安夜):

2015 Christmas Eve @ CGCC(2015年神州基督教会平安夜)

2014 Christmas Eve @ CGCC(2014年神州基督教会平安夜)

2013: Trivia over the Indian Ocean(印度洋上百科知识问答)

2012: Puerto Montt the City of Roses, Chile(智利泥港—玫瑰之城)

2009: 新西兰首都惠灵顿(Capital Wellington, NZ)