听播客学英语 285 情人节

 　　Tomorrow, 14 February, is Valentine’s Day. Saint Valentine is the patron saint of people in love. On Valentine’s Day, many people send a Valentine card to their boyfriend or girlfriend, or to their husband or wife. Sometimes people send Valentine cards anonymously¹, so that the person who receives the card has to guess who sent it. Some people even send several Valentine cards to different people, but this is a risky² strategy and I do not recommend it!

　　Before I tell you the rest of this story, I need to explain about a different sort of cards – playing cards. A pack of playing cards contains 52 cards; there are 4 different suits with 13 cards in each. There are two red suits called hearts and diamonds, and two black suits called clubs and spades. Hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades – these words have ordinary meanings in English as well as being the names of suits of cards. Look them up in a dictionary if you need to.

　　Back to Valentines Day. My wife is a teacher. Last week the children in her class made Valentine cards, and wrote a poem or a message inside the card. Some of the poems were, well, not very good. For example:

　　“Roses are red

　　Violets are blue

　　You’re not very pretty

　　But I love you!”

　　But one girl wrote:

　　“A relationship with a man is like a pack of cards.

　　You need a heart to love him with

　　A diamond to marry him with

　　A club to hit him with

　　And a spade to bury him with.”

　　An interesting thought!

　　The music is today is called My Irish Valentine by the Brobdingnagian Bards³ and it comes to you from the Podsafe Music Network.

　　More romance in the next episode.

1 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

2 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

3 bards   

n.诗人( bard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were feasts and drinking and singing by the bards. 他们欢宴狂饮，还有吟游诗人的歌唱作伴助兴。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• Round many western islands have I been Which Bards in fealty to Apollo hold. 还有多少西方的海岛，歌都已使它们向阿波罗臣服。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学