1818年圣诞节前夜，一位奥地利牧师和一位音乐教师首次演唱了他们合写的一首歌曲。
They did not know it then, but their song would go on to be the world's most famous Christmas carol.
他们当时不知道，这首歌将会成为世界上最著名的圣诞颂歌。
The song is called, in English, "Silent Night."
这首歌的英文名称就是《Sillent Night》。
Joseph Mohr, a young clergyman from Salzburg, first wrote the words for a poem in 1816. Two years later, Mohr asked Franz Xaver Gruber, his friend and a teacher from Upper Austria, to write music for the words. Gruber simply added some musical notes to the poem. He did not attach much importance to the piece.
来自萨尔茨堡的年轻牧师约瑟夫·莫尔(Joseph Mohr)最初于1816年为一首诗写下了这些文字。两年之后，莫尔让他的朋友弗朗茨·谢弗·格鲁伯（Franz Xaver Gruber），一位来自上奥地利州的教师为这段文字谱上曲。
On December 24 of that year, Mohr and Gruber sang the song for the first time at the St. Nikola Church in Obendorf, outside of Salzburg. The church's organ was not working. So, they played the music with a guitar-like instrument.
同年的12月24日，莫尔和格鲁伯首次在萨尔茨堡之外的圣尼古拉教堂演唱了这首歌。当时教堂的管风琴坏了，所以他们用类似吉他的乐器演奏了这首音乐。
A new hit song was born. Singing families then carried the song to the rest of Austria and across Europe.
一首新的热门歌曲就这样诞生了。演唱家庭随后把这首歌带到了奥地利其它地方以及整个欧洲。
American clergyman John Freeman Young published the first English translation of the song in 1859 at Trinity Church in New York. His translation included the well-known words "sleep in heavenly peace."
美国牧师约翰·弗里曼·扬（John Freeman Young）于1859年在纽约的三一教堂发表了这首歌的第一份英译版本。他的翻译包含了那句众所周知的“尽享天赐安眠（sleep in heavenly peace）”。
On Christmas Eve of 1914, a young British officer named Charles Brewer heard something that he had never heard before on the battlefield – a Christmas song. German soldiers were singing the German words to "Silent Night." The words were not familiar to Brewer -- but the music was.
在1914年圣诞前夕，一位名为查尔斯·布鲁尔（Charles Brewer）的英国年轻军官在战场上听到了一些从未听到的声音--圣诞歌。德国士兵当时正在用德语唱《Silent Night》。布鲁尔不熟悉这些歌词，但是曲子很熟。
Once the German soldiers had finished their song, Brewer and his soldiers answered by singing the English version of "Silent Night" and other Christmas songs.
当德国士兵唱完之后，布鲁尔和他的士兵们演唱了英文版的《Silent Night》以及其它圣诞歌曲作为回应。
By Christmas morning, along the 800-kilometer Western Front, German and allied soldiers came out of the trenches. They put down their weapons and exchanged greetings. The act became known as the World War I Christmas Truce.
到了圣诞节早晨，沿着800公里长的西部战线，德国和盟军士兵都从战壕中走出来，他们放下了武器，互致问候。这一举动被称之为第一次世界大战圣诞节休战。
But it was not until American singer Bing Crosby performed "Silent Night" in 1948 that the song became famous worldwide.
但是直到1948年美国歌手宾·克罗斯比（ Bing Crosby）演唱《Silent Night》，这首歌才闻名全球。
The song has since been translated into 300 languages. A Time magazine study in 2014 found that "Silent Night" is the most popular Christmas song ever, with 733 copyrighted recordings. In second place is "Joy to the World," with 391 copyrighted recordings.
自此，这首歌已经被翻译成300种语言。2014年《时代》杂志的一项调查发现，《Silent Night》是有史以来最受欢迎的圣诞歌曲，拥有733首受版权保护的唱片。排名第二的是《Joy to the World》，拥有391张版权唱片。
Austria is celebrating the 200th anniversary of "Silent Night" with tours, shows, plays and special foods from Salzburg. Most of all, Austrians hope people remember where "Silent Night" truly came from.
奥地利现在正在用旅游、表演、戏剧和来自萨尔茨堡的特色食品来庆祝《Silent Night》诞辰200周年。最重要的是，奥地利人希望人们记住《Silent Night》的真正出处。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，禁止转载，违者必究！)