标题: Valentine's Day 情人节 [打印本页] 作者: Helen 时间: 2020-2-13 23:14 标题: Valentine's Day 情人节 回帖下载完整音频及双语全文：
Americans celebrate Valentine's Day each year on February fourteenth. It is a holiday for lovers. Valentine's Day is a good day for a man to ask his girlfriend to marry him. It is also a good day for couples to get married. Other couples might go out for a special meal at a nice restaurant.
The holiday is named for Saint Valentine. He was an early Christian churchman who reportedly helped young lovers. Valentine was executed for his Christian beliefs on February fourteenth, more than 1,700 years ago.
But the day that has his name is even older than that. The ancient Romans celebrated a holiday for lovers more than 2,000 years ago. As part of the celebration,each girl wrote her name on a piece of paper and put it in a large container. Each boy reached into the container and pulled out the name of a girl. That girl became his girlfriend for a year.
Lovers still put their names on pieces of paper on Valentine's Day. They send each other cards that express their love. Sometimes they send other gifts, too, like jewelry... or flowers... or candy... or all three!
Americans usually send cards through the mail system or in a computer message. But there is another way many Americans send messages of love on Valentine's Day. They pay to have them printed in a newspaper. Some of these messages are simple and short: “Susan, I love you very much. From John.” Others say more, like this example: “David, roses are red, violets are blue. I hope you love me as much as I love you. Forever, Mary.” There is only one problem in sending a Valentine's Day message this way. It will only reach the one you love if he or she reads the newspaper that day!