2-7 情人节的来历（在线收听）

The Origins of Valentine’s Day

February14 is Valentine's Day. Although it is celebrated as a lover's holiday today, with the giving of candy, flowers or other gifts between couples in love, it originated in 5th century Rome as a tribute¹ to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop².

For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan³ celebration in mid February commemorating⁴ young men's rite of passage⁵ to the god Lupercus⁶. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year.

In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate⁷ the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.

Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint⁸ of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who in AD 270 had been beheaded⁹ by Emperor Claudius.

Claudius had determined that married men made poor soldiers. So he banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. But Valentine reversed¹⁰ the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When he failed, he was stoned and beheaded.

During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously¹¹ heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her, “From your Valentine.” The phrase has been used on his day ever since.

Although the lottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid? February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was still used by Roman men to seek the affection¹² of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine's name.

The first Valentine card grew out of¹³ 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.

The reason why Cupid became associated with the holiday is because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards.

注释：

1.tribute [5tribju:t] n. （表示敬意的）礼物；颂辞，称赞

2.bishop [5biFEp] n. （天主教、东正教、圣公会等的）主教

3.pagan [5pei^En] adj. 异教徒的

4.commemorate [kE5memEreit] vt. 纪念；庆祝

5.rite of passage （人类学用语）通过礼仪（指为人生进入一个新阶段如出生、命名、成年、结婚、患病、死亡而举行的仪式）

6.the god Lupercus 畜牧神 （该神代表生育繁殖）

7.emulate [5emjuleit] vt. 仿效，模仿

8.patron [5peitrEn] saint (教会等的)守护神，主保圣人

9.behead [bi5hed] vt. 砍……的头，斩……之首

10.reverse [ri5vE:s] vt. 使反向；使倒转

11.miraculously [mi5rAkjulEsli] adv. 奇迹般地；神奇地

12.affection [E5fekFEn] n. 喜爱；热爱

13.grow out of  产生于

情人节的来历

　　2月14日是情人节。虽然今天它被当作一个情人的节日庆祝，情侣之间互赠糖果、鲜花或者其他礼物，但它起源于5世纪的罗马，是为纪念一名叫圣瓦伦廷的天主教主教。

在情人节确立之前的800年中，罗马人在2月中旬举行一种异教徒庆典，庆祝青年男子向畜牧神举行通过仪式。抽奖是该庆典上的一个特色，年轻男子从一个箱子中抽取少女的名字。抽奖中被分配给每位年轻男子的少女将在这一年剩余的时间里成为该男子的性伙伴。

　　教皇杰拉西乌斯想废除这个异教徒节日，下令对抽奖进行了一个小小的改变，把箱子中少女的名字换成了圣徒的名字，男女都可以从箱子中抽奖。游戏的规则是如果抽到某圣徒，必须在一年的余下时间效仿该圣徒。不用说，许多年轻罗马男子对规则的改变是不大高兴的。

　　教会要寻找一位合适的爱情守护神来代替异教的畜牧神。他们发现于公元270年被克劳狄皇帝砍头的瓦伦廷是适宜的人选。

　　克劳狄断定已婚男人不可能成为好士兵，所以他在他的帝国禁止婚姻。但是瓦伦廷秘密地为找上门的年轻人证婚。当克劳狄发现此事后，他先是试图将瓦伦廷变成异教徒。但是瓦伦廷反而试图使克劳狄改信基督教。失败后，瓦伦廷被石头砸死并被砍头。

　　在瓦伦廷被监禁的日子里，他爱上了狱卒失明的女儿。在他被处死之前，他对她的爱以及他坚定的信仰奇迹般地治愈了她的盲症。在他被带去处死之前，他给她写了封告别信，签名是“你的瓦伦廷书”。从此之后，这句话就用在情人节。

　　虽然为争得女人的抽奖已被教会取缔，但是这个2月中旬纪念圣瓦伦廷的节日仍被罗马男子延续下来，以赢得妇女的爱慕。男人将表达爱意并含有瓦伦廷名字的手写字条交给他们所钟爱的女子已成了一个传统。

　　第一张情人节卡就是这样来的。第一张真正的情人节卡是在1415年由奥尔良公爵查尔斯送给他的妻子的。当时他被囚禁在伦敦塔中。

　　丘比特之所以与这个节日相关，是因为他是罗马爱情与美丽女神维纳斯的儿子。丘比特常常在情人节卡上出现。