新視野大學(xué)英語視聽說教程第一冊(cè) Unit 10 Task 1: Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day started when the Emperor Claudius II ruled Rome. Claudius punished Rome into

so many wars that he had a hard time finding soldiers for his army. He thought the reason was that

Roman men did not want to leave their families and lovers. To solve that problem, he cancelled

marriages and engagements. But a Christian priest named Valentine who believed in love and

marriage secretly married couples When the emperor learned about these marriages, he sent

Valentine to prison. The priest died in prison on February 14,270. Not until a few hundred years

later did Saint Valentine’s Day take its present form. Today we still honor Saint Valentine. The

old ideas of love, marriage and fertility have lasted and taken on modern meanings.

1. wars finding soldiers

2. families and lovers

3. love and marriage

4. prison February 14

5. fertility modern meanings