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Santa Claus is a character who brings gifts to children during the holiday of Christmas.
圣誕老人是一個在圣誕節期間給孩子們帶來禮物的角色。
During the holiday season, many performers play Santa.
在節日期間，許多表演者扮演圣誕老人。
They appear across the United States in stores, hotels, and other places to meet with children and ask them what Christmas gifts they want.
他們出現在美國各地的商店、酒店等地與孩子們見面，詢問他們想要什么圣誕禮物。
This year, Santa performers are back after two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
今年，圣誕老人表演者在經歷了兩年的新冠疫情限制措施后又回來了。
But there are a few changes.
但是有一些變化。
Mitch Allen started a service that provides Santa performers called HireSanta.com.
米奇·艾倫創建了一個名為“HireSanta.com.”的服務平臺，該平臺提供圣誕老人表演者。
He has reported a 30 percent increase in demand this Christmas season over the last year.
他報告稱，今年圣誕節的需求比去年增加了30%。
The company lost about 15 percent of its performers to retirement or death during the pandemic.
在疫情期間，因圣誕老人表演者退休或去世，該公司失去了約15%的表演者。
Allen has a Santa database of several thousand performers.
艾倫擁有一個包含數千名表演者的圣誕老人數據庫。
It includes events at Bloomindale's main store in New York and many events at Marriott hotels.
其中包括在紐約的布魯明戴爾百貨總店舉辦的活動以及在萬豪酒店舉辦的許多活動。
Most of the Santa performers with Allen have moved back to the tradition of having kids sit on their laps.
大多數和艾倫合作的圣誕老人表演者都恢復了讓孩子坐在他們腿上的傳統。
They are not considering COVID-19 infection in any major way, he said.
他說他們沒有考慮以任何主要方式感染新冠病毒。
But Santas can choose to wear a face covering.
但圣誕老人可以選擇戴口罩。
Chris Landtroop is a spokesperson with another agency that provides Santa performers, Cherry Hill Programs.
克里斯·蘭德軍是另一家提供圣誕老人表演者的機構Cherry Hill Programs的發言人。
She said the business's 1,400 Santas are working at more than 600 shopping centers this year.
她說，該公司的1400名圣誕老人今年在600多個購物中心工作。
"I can't even explain how excited we are to see everyone's smiles at all locations this season without anything covering up those beautiful faces," she said.
她說：“我甚至無法解釋我們有多興奮，因為在這個季節中，在沒有任何東西遮住美麗面孔的情況下，我們在所有地方都能看到每個人的微笑。”
Cherry Hill Santas are also free to wear face coverings, Landtroop said.
蘭德軍說，Cherry Hill的圣誕老人也是自由選擇是否戴口罩。
Some Santas are still keeping their distance.
有些圣誕老人仍然保持距離。
The Santa at Macy's main store in New York City will be seated behind a work station.
紐約梅西百貨總店的圣誕老人將會坐在工作臺后面。
So, there will be no lap visits there.
因此，那里的圣誕老人將不會讓孩子坐在他們的腿上。
Some Santas who stayed home for the last two years out of concern for their health have returned.
有些圣誕老人過去兩年因為擔心自己的健康而待在家里，現在他們已經回來了。
But Allen said he is looking for new performers.
但艾倫表示，他正在尋找新的表演者。
Inflation has also made it difficult for people to continue performing.
通貨膨脹也使人們很難繼續表演。
Many are older, on fixed incomes, and travel long distances to perform.
許多人年紀較大，有固定的收入，需要長途跋涉來表演。
They spend hundreds of dollars on Santa clothing and other objects.
他們花費數百美元購買圣誕老人的衣服和其他物品。
"We're charging the clients slightly more and we're also paying our Santas slightly more," Allen said.
艾倫說：“我們向顧客收取的費用略高一些，我們向圣誕老人支付的費用也就會略高一些。”
Bookings for many Santas were made months ahead, and some work throughout the year.
許多圣誕老人都是提前幾個月預訂的，有些圣誕老人全年都在工作。
Allen's Santas will make from $5,000 to $12,000 for the season.
艾倫的圣誕老人本季的收入在5000美元到12000美元不等。
A few Santas told The Associated Press that the cost is not a problem.
一些圣誕老人告訴美聯社，費用不是問題。
They are not in the Santa profession to make money but do it because they enjoy it.
他們扮演圣誕老人不是為了賺錢，而是因為他們喜歡這份工作。
Allen and other agencies are seeing more requests for Black, deaf, and Spanish-speaking Santa performers.
艾倫和其他機構發現越來越多的人要求黑人、聾人和說西班牙語的圣誕老人表演者。
Allen also knows a female Santa.
艾倫還認識一位女圣誕老人。
Eric Elliott and his wife Moeisha Elliott became professional Santas this year after first taking on the part as volunteers in 2007.
埃里克·埃利奧特和他的妻子莫伊莎·埃利奧特在2007年首次當志愿者扮演圣誕老人后，今年成為了職業的圣誕老人。
Both are retired military members.
兩人都是退役軍人。
They spent weeks in Santa Claus training.
他們花了幾個星期的時間接受圣誕老人培訓。
They learned American Sign Language and other ways to work with and perform to people with disabilities.
他們學習了美國手語和其他與殘疾人一起工作和表演的方式。
Their work has included going to disaster areas with the Texas-based nonprofit Lone Star Santas to spread happiness during the holidays.
他們的工作包括與總部位于得克薩斯州的非營利性組織“Lone Star Santas”一起前往災區，在節日期間傳播快樂。
The Elliotts said breaking into the professional world as Santas for the first time and being Black has not been easy.
埃利奧特夫婦說，這是他們第一次以圣誕老人的身份進入專業領域，成為黑人并不容易。
For some people, Eric said, "We understand that we're not the Santa for you."
對有些人來說，埃里克說：“我們知道，我們不是你們想要的圣誕老人。”
I'm Gregory Stachel.
格雷戈里·施塔赫爾為您播報。
譯文為可可英語翻譯，未經授權請勿轉載！
