时间:2018-12-04 作者:英语课 分类:英语流行话题阅读-单词5500


英语课

The origins of Valentine's Day


February 14th is Valentine's Day.Though celebrated 1 as a lover's day with the giving of candy and flowers, it originated in 5th century Rome as tribute to ST.Valentine's Day, a Clatholic bishop 2.For 800 years prior to establishing Valentine's Day, the Rome had practised a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating 3 young men's rite 4 of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery 5 in which young men would draw the means of teanage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man would be his sexual companion during the remaining year.


In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a change in the lottery. Instead of the names of girls, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women drew from the box, and emulated 6 the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many Roman men were not pleased with the rule changes.


Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place.They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who in AD 270 had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius. Convinced that married men made poor soldiers, Roman Emperor Claudius banned marriage from his empire. But the saint Valentine would secretly marry young couples that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine reversed the stategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When he failed, he was stoned and beheaded.


During the days Valentine was imprisoned 7, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailor. His love for her and his gret faith miraculously 8 healed her from blindness. Before he was killed, he signed a farewell message to her"From your Valentine". The phrase has been used ever since.


The mid-February holiday in mommemortion of St.Valentine was used to seck the affection of women. It became a tradition for men to give their beloved ones handwritten message of affection, containing Valentine's name. The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. The first true Valentine card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time.


Cupid often appeared on Valentine cards. The reason why Cupid became associated with the holiday is that he was the son of Venus, the Rome goddess of love and beauty.



1 celebrated
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
2 bishop
n.主教,(国际象棋)象
  • He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
  • Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。
3 commemorating
v.纪念,庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 )
  • He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements. 他被授予一幅卷轴,以表彰其所做出的成就。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The post office issued a series commemorating famous American entertainers. 邮局发行了一个纪念美国著名演艺人员的系列邮票。 来自互联网
4 rite
n.典礼,惯例,习俗
  • This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
  • Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。
5 lottery
n.抽彩;碰运气的事,难于算计的事
  • He won no less than £5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
  • They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。
6 emulated
v.与…竞争( emulate的过去式和过去分词 );努力赶上;计算机程序等仿真;模仿
  • The havoc that months had previously wrought was now emulated by the inroads of hours. 前几个月已经使他垮下来,如今更是一小时一小时地在恶化。 来自辞典例句
  • The key technology emulated by CAD and the circuit is showed. 对关键技术进行了仿真,给出了电路实现形式。 来自互联网
7 imprisoned
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁,合并执行。
  • They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。
8 miraculously
ad.奇迹般地
  • He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
  • A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。
学英语单词
7-hydroxymatatabiether
alipogemetic
aluminium soap
aristocracy
arrowy
autocreation
benne-seed
beyond all reason
biomethane
blind bolt
blogged
centrifugal couple
chaikin
charging tube
Clarke Ra.
comely maidens
cultural formula
cylinder fillet
deyolks
duplicate circuitry
ejaculate
Elbert County
erect film
Erigeron vicarius
euro-discoes
expiatory monument
feeler plug
frosting surface
gasoline dispensing equipment
gill fungus
gondo
guided discharge
heckels
hypnethesia
indelicato
iodine photodissociation laser
krewe
laticauda laticaudata
Lawrence,Ernest Orlando
leading ague
lidar light detection and ranging
life-coaching
luggage service
machine langauge
maria magdalene von losches
Marllon
Masimbu
Mauzelite
meningosis
metestrus, metestrum
microdielectrometer
multimode autotracking
nelumbiums
nessun dorma
optimal allocation of sample size
Ouest Fracture Zone
pa-rasitic image
paraisoes
pingas d'agoa
plain side milling cutter
platometry
Plurix (process)
power-frequency induction furnace transformer
program composition
progressive congenital erythrokeratoderma
pulmonaryencephalopathy
purchase on order quantity
quasiorders
Quaternaria
random number algorithm
receiver mismatch
recursively enumerable
removable bit
saper
Seselopsis
sharing allocator
shoulder surfing
space of irrational numbers
spadebones
sphincterotome
strike tally
subfamily Taxodiaceae
sultanships
super grinder
superannuates
superdeformed
synspilus
teletypewriter entry systems
theatricalizer
to call out
tossed off
unredirected
unrollings
UPTD
vaginal process of peritoneum
variable reluctance
velocity panel
water cooled ignitron
who the hell
win the field
xenoglossia, xenoglossy
Zingiber stipitatum