bluebird in the garden, a spirit in a house, a kind man on the side of the road. Americans are big believers in angels, although not necessarily the ones with halos(1) and wings.

花园中的蓝知更鸟，房屋中的精灵，路边的好人。美国人非常相信天使的存在，并认为天使未必头顶光环，肩长翅膀。

An overwhelming majority, almost regardless of backgrounds and religious convictions(2), think angels are real, according to an AP-AOL News poll exploring attitudes about angels.

美国在线服务公司在调查人们对天使的态度中发现，绝大多数人，无论背景和宗教信仰，都相信天使的存在。

Belief in angels is highest — almost universal — among evangelical(3) Christians, 97 percent of whom trust in their existence, the poll indicates. But even among people with no religious affiliation(4), well more than half said angels are for real.

调查显示，百分之九十七，几乎世界的福音派信徒相信天使的存在。即便是没有宗教信仰的人，也有一半以上相信天使是真实的。

Protestants(5), women, Southerners, Midwesterners and Republicans were the most likely to believe in angels, although strong majorities in other groups also shared that faith. Belief in angels declined slightly with advanced education, from 87 percent of those with high school education or less to 73 percent of those with college degrees. Overall, 81 percent believed in angels.

新教徒、女人、南方人、中西部人和共和党人最相信天使的存在，其他群体中也有大多数人相信。受过高等教育的人相对不相信天使。高校毕业人群中有87%的人相信，而具有学院学位的人中仅有不到73%相信。平均看来，81%的人都相信天使的存在。

The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted by telephone Dec. 12 to 14 by Ipsos, an international public opinion research company. The margin of sampling error for all adults was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

国际公共意见调查公司Ipsos在12月12日至14日期间电话采访了1000位成年人。调查结果误差为上下三个百分点。

If it's one thing to believe in angels, it's something else to explain exactly what an angel is.

如果人们都相信天使的存在，那天使到底是什么样子呢？

"A presence that you feel around you, is my opinion," said Elizabeth Daves, 63, of Flemington, N.J. "I accept them — to come whenever they want to." And she said they came, and have comforted her, since her mother-in-law(6) died in their house.

来自新泽西弗雷明顿63岁的Elizabeth Daves说：“天使围绕在你身边，你只能感觉她的存在。我相信她们是存在的，只要她们愿意，任何时候都可能到来。” 她还说当继母在家里去世的时候，天使曾来安慰过她。

Edward Pelz, 80, said he believes that angels are guiding him, even though it's impossible to explain to anyone else.

80岁的Edward Pelz说他相信天使一直在指引他，虽然无法对旁人解释清楚。

"Have I ever seen one? Nope. We depict(7) an angel as a person that's white, has a robe on, has wings on back. I'm not sure that's the way they look. So for me, I think sometimes there's angels that aren't that way."

“我见过天使么？没有。人们说天使长着白人的模样，穿着长袍，背生双翅。我也不确定天使是不是这样的，我个人认为可能不是。”

Pelz recounted(8) a story about a man who showed up to change his tire when he had a flat in Ohio five years ago.

Pelz说五年前在俄亥俄汽车爆胎，一位男子出现帮他换胎。

"I look at life — I say, well maybe I had an angel with me here today. It could have been just another man doing a good deed."

“我审视周围，我是说也许此时此刻我身边就有一个天使。他可能只是一个正在做好事的人。”