新视野综合训练3第二版阅读原文翻译.pdfVIP

Unit1 Passage1 Valentine ’Days probably has its origin in the ancient Roman celebration called Lupercalia( 牧神节 ) . It was celebrated on February 15. In the Rom an calendar February was in the spring. The celebration honored the go ds Lupercus and Faunus as well as the twin brothers Romulus and Rem us, the legendary founders of Rome. As part of the ceremony the priest s paired up young man and women. The girls names were placed in a box and each boy drew a girl ’name.s The couple was paired then until the next Lupercalia. In 260AD the emperor Claudius II, called Claudius the Cruel, decid ed that young soldiers would only be distracted by marriage and so orde red that young men may not marry. Valentinus( Valentine), a Christian pr iest, defied the emperor and got married in secret. He was caught exec uted( 处死 )，on February 14, the eve of Lupercalia. His name became as sociated with young love forever after. In 496, Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honor him as Saint Valentine and it has been St. Valenti ne’sDay ever since. In the Middle Ages, some of the customs of the Lupercalia still per sisted in spite of the attempts of the Church to put an end to these non -Christian customs and Christianize the holiday. Both men and women dr ew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They woul d wear the names on their sleeves for a week. Today we still sometime s “wearour hearts on our sleeves ”when we cannot conceal our feelings. In the 1600s, it became common to give flowers, particularly the r ose, as a sign of love as the “languageof flowers ”This. came to Europ e from Turkey. The color and placement of rose held a special significan ce a red rose, for example, meant beauty.