Halloween, ancient Celtic festival or U.S. marketing gimmick according to your point of view, is dying in France after a short-lived breakthrough, French media reported on Tuesday. 　　

　　万圣节到底是怎么一回事？一个属于古代凯尔特人的节日抑或是美国商人用来促销相关商品的小伎俩，随你怎么看吧。但在法国人眼中，这个节日在经过了一轮短暂的热闹后目前已经在该国彻底"死亡"。　　

　　"Halloween pretty much buried," the daily le Monde reported, quoting Benoit Pousset, head of costume company Cesar, who attributed the festival's demise in France to "a cultural reaction linked to the rise of anti-Americanism". 　　

　　法国恺撒化妆品公司老板贝努瓦·布塞说："万圣节在我们这里已经基本上被埋葬了。"此人将万圣节在法国寿终正寝的原因归咎于"由日益高涨的反美情绪所引发的一种文化上的必然反应。" 　

　　"Our Halloween sales have been falling by half every year since 2002," Franck Mathais of toys retailer La Grande Recre told the newspaper. 　　

　　一家玩具零售店的负责人弗朗克·马泰斯说："自从2002年以来，我们公司在万圣节期间的销售额每年都会同比下降一半左右。" 　

　　A group called "Non a Halloween" set up to fight the trend, which it saw as an unwelcomeintrusion fostered by purely commercial interests, even wound itself up last year. 　

　　为阻止万圣节在法国的进一步流行，那里在几年前还曾经出现过一个名叫"人人不过万圣节"的民间组织，按照他们的观点，这个节日不过是在赤裸裸的商业利益驱使下而产生的一种令人厌烦的文化入侵而已，有趣的是，该组织已经在去年宣布完成了自己的"历史使命"并就地解散。　　

　　"There was no need for the group to exist any more," former president Arnaud Guyot-Jeannin told Reuters. 　　

　　曾经担任过该组织主席的阿尔诺·吉约·雅南说："这个组织已经没有继续存在下去的必要了。" 　　

　　During the 20th century, it became firmly established in the United States, marked by hollowed out pumpkin heads and children dressed as ghosts demanding "Trick or Treat" from passers-by. 　　

　　在整个20世纪，万圣节在美国逐步成为一个广受民众喜爱的节日，孩子们将南瓜掏空做成灯笼，并将自己装扮成鬼怪大玩"不请客就捣蛋"（向过路人索要糖果和糕点）的游戏。　

　　Introduced in France during the 1990s, it aroused strong opposition from many who found it artificial and over commercial and the festival never caught on properly. The Catholic church was particularly sceptical. 　

　　万圣节是在上个世纪90年代时被引入法国的，但很快便激起了不少当地人的强烈反对，他们认为这个节日看上去太过虚假，充斥着浓重的商业气息，而且它也从未真正流行起来。此外，法国天主教会对于该节日所持的怀疑态度尤为明显。　　

　　The daily Le Parisien painted a desolate picture of abandonedpumpkins and sorry displays in isolated restaurant doorways and declared "Halloween is dead". 　　

　　法国《巴黎人报》则专门刊登了一幅充满凄凉气氛的漫画，上面描绘了被人们随手丢弃的南瓜，一家看上去孤零零的餐厅门口空无一人，该漫画的标题便是"万圣节已死"。　

　　"Halloween was a marketing gimmick aimed mainly at children. It's a big festival of consumption selling outfits, masks, gadgets and it couldn't last forever," Guyot-Jeannin said. 　

　　吉约·雅南说："万圣节不过是以孩子们为主要对象的一种市场营销手段而已。它堪称是服装、面具及小型玩具的一个销售旺季，但这种势头不可能长期保持下去。" 　

　　（国际在线独家资讯 张咏）　　

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