英国购物中心里的圣诞老人已被告知去购买威尔士短语书籍以改善他们节日贺辞。12月24日那天，正当小精灵们在玩具厂里忙着把数百万个来自世界各地儿童的长袜子塞满礼物时，圣诞老人则被催促去学习方言，从而他们会用10种语言说“圣诞节快乐”。
　　英国的娱乐公司（Ministry of Fun）创造了新的圣诞老人，希望能使圣诞老人紧跟潮流。娱乐公司每年12月都为数百家百货公司和晚会提供长满胡子的圣诞老人。
　　圣诞老人扮演者除了被鼓励去学习语言外，还必须确保他们的服饰整洁，而且要了解最畅销的儿童玩具和CD排行榜的前十名。
　　娱乐公司（Ministry of Fun）发言人詹姆斯·罗维尔说：“今年除了要求购物中心里的圣诞老人要穿戴着整洁的胡子和服饰外，我们还希望当孩子们来逛商场时，圣诞老人能用孩子们的母语向他们打招呼，而威尔士语肯定是今年圣诞老人必须会说的10种语言之一。”他补充道，“我知道这种语言多么重要，因此圣诞老人不但要会说威尔士语，还有法语、德语、西班牙语、日语和其它语言，这应该不成问题。”
　　鲍尼先生是一位过去8年来为儿童增添乐趣的70岁圣诞老人。他说：“所有圣诞老人都被鼓励用游客的母语来进行问候，这是件好事。在伦敦时，我见过来自世界各地的人们，尽管我还不需要用拉丁文对大家说‘圣诞节快乐’！”他还说：“娱乐公司（Ministry of Fun）为所有圣诞老人定下高标准的做法太好了。其目的就是要宣传圣诞节的美好愿望。”
　　
　　Welsh Sets Santa Clause Standard
　　
　　Britain’s shopping center Santas have been told to pick up Welsh phrase books to improve their greetings. As elves^[小精灵] go into toy factory overdrive^{[工作过度]} to fill millions of children’s stockings worldwide on December 24, Santas are being urged to learn the lingo^[方言] so they can say Merry Christmas in 10 languages.
　　A new Santa Clause created by the Ministry of Fun the entertainment firm which provides bearded lookalikes to hundreds of department stores and parties each December is hoping to bring Santa up to date^[最新].
　　As well as being encouraged to learn languages, Santa impersonators^[扮演者] must make sure their suits are clean and know both the best-selling children’s toys and the top ten chart CDs.
　　Ministry of Fun spokesman James Lovell said, “As well as telling shopping centre Santas to have tidy beards^[胡须] and costumes this year, we want them to be able to speak to children in their native languages when they visit the malls and Welsh is definitely one of the ten languages that Santas must be able to speak this year.?He added, 襂 know how important the language is, so there should be no problem for the Santas to speak Welsh as well as French, German, Spanish, Japanese and other languages.”
　　“It’s good that all Santas are being encouraged to greet visitors in their native language. When I’m in London, I meet all nationalities^[国籍], although I haven’t had to say Merry Christmas to anyone in Latin yet!”said Mr. Powney, a 70yearold Santa impersonator who has entertained^[娱乐] children for the past eight years. He said, “It’s excellent that the Ministry of Fun wants to set a high standard for all Santas. The whole object^[目标] is to promote^[宣传] the good spirit of Christmas.”