【轻松英文阅读】母亲节的由来

 What did you do on May 12th of this year? If you are like most people in Japan and America, chances are you spent the day with your mother. (In Korea¹ they celebrate “Parent’s Day” on May 8, in Norway Mother’s Day is in February, and many other countries have the holiday on different days too). But it wasn’t always that way. In 1907, Anna Marie Jarvis held a memorial² for her mother in West Virginia, and the next year founded the “Mother’s Day International Association³.” After that, her suggestion caught on, and the holiday soon became the “Mother’s Day” we celebrate today.

 

One difference between the original Mother’s Day and the current⁴ holiday is that Jarvis was strongly against people making money from the holiday. Instead, she thought people should make handmade gifts and letters for their moms, and not buy any cards, flowers, or anything else.

 

So, what do you and your family do on Mother’s Day? If you want to celebrate the holiday like its founder⁵ intended, hopefully you did something nice for your mother … and didn’t spend any money!

1 Korea   

n.朝鲜(亚洲)

参考例句：

• Korea lies to the east of China.韩国位于中国东面。
• Korea and China are separated by only the Yalu River.朝鲜和中国只隔一条鸭绿江。

2 memorial   

adj.记忆的；纪念的；n.纪念碑，纪念堂

参考例句：

• We visited the Lincoln Memorial.我们参观了林肯纪念堂。
• He wrote a memorial of the late author.他写了一篇纪念这位已故作家的文章。

3 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

4 current   

n.涌流，趋势，电流，水流，气流；adj.当前的，通用的，流通的，现在的，草写的，最近的

参考例句：

• Electric current is often powerful enough to kill a man.电流常强得足以致命。
• There is a story about her in the current number.最近一期上有关于她的故事。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。