译文:圣诞节为何如此重要？

      有两个原因可以说明。

      一，据“大不列颠百科全书1994”所述，全球55亿人口中有18亿为基督教徒，这令基督教成为世界上最大的宗教。美国的人口总数为281，000，000.而基督教徒的数目却是241，000，000.占总人口的85%。由于基督徒信奉耶稣，因此耶稣的诞辰对于他们就理所当然显得十分重要。

      二，在美国，圣诞节前的几个星期是人们一年中购物最为活跃的时期。许多小商人仅靠圣诞季的销售就能挣到年营业额的70%。正因为如此，商家才不遗余力地对圣诞节做大肆宣传。

     丹尼尔.布尔斯廷在其著作《美国人》一书中指出，19世纪60年代之前，圣诞节对于美国人来说在很大程度上只是个应景儿的节日。1867年，纽约的梅西百货首次将营业时间持续到圣诞前夕的午夜时分。1874年，梅西百货首次举办了以圣诞为主题的商品展销。从那时起，此类活动，年复一年，规模日盛。

原文:Why is Christmas such a big deal?

      There are two reasons why Christmas is such a big deal:

      * According to the 1994 "Britannica Book of the Year," there are 1.8 billion Christians¹ in a total world population of 5.5 billion, making it the largest religion worldwide. In America, 241 million out of a total population of 281 million people are Christians -- that's 85 percent. Because Christians follow Jesus, the birth of Jesus is important to them.

      * In America, the weeks leading up to Christmas are the biggest shopping weeks of the year. Many retailers² make up to 70 percent of their annual revenue in the month preceding Christmas. Therefore, retailers hype the event beyond belief. 

      According to Daniel Boorstin in his book "The Americans," Christmas was largely a non-event in America until the 1860s. 1867 was the first year that Macy's department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve. 1874 was the year of the first window displays with a Christmas theme at Macy's. It has snowballed from there.