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Christmas cards
(圣诞卡)
圣诞卡是祝贺圣诞及新年的贺卡，上面印着关于耶稣降生故事的图画，以及“庆祝圣诞、新年快乐”之类的祝愿的话。
世界上第一张圣诞卡是1843年英国人亨利.高乐爵士提议，由约翰.卡尔葛荷斯利设计的。卡片上画的是一个贵族家庭，三代人一齐举杯对一位不在场的亲友表示祝贺。当时他印了1000张，没有用完的印刷厂就以每张1先令的价钱卖出。圣诞卡就这样诞生了。
Ancient Romans and some
early Europeans sent greetings to friends and family
at the start of a new year. The first Christmas cards
seem to have been made in England in the 1840s. Printing
improvements and inexpensive postal service made the
cards so popular that by 1880 the British postal service
was urging people to ''post early for Christmas.'' The
first cards appeared in America in the 1850s and became
popular in the 1870s, when lithographer Louis Prang
began producing beautiful, ornate cards in the Boston
area.
Although it could not compete with the speed of email
today, the 1800's nevertheless experienced a revolution
in communication that played an important role in creating
the tradition of the Christmas greeting card. Helped by
the new railway system, the public postal service made
corresponding a popular past time. In England, Sir Henry
Cole recognized the advantage of a more efficient mail
service and initiated the practice of sending Christmas
greeting cards to friends.
The first card was designed by J.C.Horsley as a commercial
endeavor. One thousand copies were sold in London, and
soon others followed suit. An English artist, William
Egley, produced a popular card in 1849. Louis Prang, a
German born printer, working from his shop in Roxbury,
Massachusetts, printed his first American cards in 1875.
Even more important than his printing was the fact that
he did more than anyone else to popularize the cards by
instituting nationwide contests for the best Christmas
designs, which were awarded cash prizes.
Adding to the popularity
of Christmas cards was the "penny post," created
by the British Postal System. This resulted in an inexpensive
way to correspond with large numbers of friends, and
as printing methods improved, Christmas card production
increased.
From the beginning the
themes have been as varied as the Christmas customs
worldwide. Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious
pictures - Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other parts
of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often jokes,
winter pictures, Father Christmas, or romantic scenes
of life in past times.
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Christmas
cards