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
absorber rod structure
accounting and review services
additional budget allocation
ageotropism
amylism
anacrogynous
barium orthoborate
be divorced from
be up a gum tree
blendo
Boolean item name
bottom roll
C.S.G.
carotenals
Challa Ogoï
check-in counters
closed transition
coating system for propeller shaft
combined filter press
commitmentphobes
constant velocity
continuous gaslift equipment
cycle of karst development
Cyclopterus lumpus
data processing division
decamphor oil
decasualise
deck house
destry
diatrizoates
Didymoplexis micradenia
drygum waxed paper
electronic curve tracer
final ruling
fork pin
four level emitter
free theory
function input section
general surgeon
Girdle-Tailed
goez
guitar pick
hardened glass
have none of
Herbert pendulum hardness
honores mutant mores
honourary
I like the shape of that table
jangel
jolting moulding machine
kaggs
Kangyi
kernsmith
maxilla nasal process
mazzy
metasicula
micro-size particles
mortierella marburgensis
neel
nonuniversalistic
ontic
order of reference to arbitration
osteal syphilis
pennicalavine
petti
pidginized
platform-computer guidance
Plonévez-du-Faou
prepossessors
quasiconcave
quintern
radices mesocili transversi
Ratibida columnaris
read-out line
samurai warriors
sauropods
serial correlation test
shade sth in
simmer
Single up!
SMCM
soft valve
sort output file
spruce-fir
steady potential
teslaization
three-dimensionality
threonine dehydrase
tiger shark
topping processing
total on-hand cost
typical floor
unmule
unrigged
upgrade angle
venae subcostalis
wax-billed
welding metal
whapped
wiggin'
willow-tree
zunzuncitos