Hello everyone. I’m your friend Caroline. This valentine is for the girl who stole my heart. 这份情人节礼物，是送给那位偷去我心的女孩。 又是一年情人节，又是情侣秀恩爱的日子了，可你们知道情人节的由来吗？今天这期节目我们就一起来看一看。 Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine’s Day一and its patron saint一is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. 每年二月，全国上下，相爱的人们都以圣瓦伦丁的名义，彼此交换糖果、鲜花和礼物。 但是这个神秘的圣徒是谁呢?为什么我们要庆祝这个节日?情人节的历史以及这个圣徒都笼罩在神秘之中。 这并不妨碍我们知道:二月，很久以来就是一个浪漫的月份。 St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? 我们今天知道，圣瓦伦丁节包含了基督教和古罗马的传统的双重遗迹。 那么，圣瓦伦丁是谁以及他又是如何与这个古老的仪式联系上的呢? While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial一which probably occurred around 270 A.D一others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "christianize" celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. 一些人相信二月中旬庆祝圣瓦伦丁节的活动是为了纪念圣瓦伦丁的死亡或者人葬这件事情—大约发生在公元270年;也有的人声称基督教会决定在二月中旬庆祝圣瓦伦丁节，目的也许是为了把异教徒罗马人的牧神节给基督教化。 In great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. 在英国，圣瓦伦丁节大约是在十七世纪时才开始广泛庆祝的。 到了十八世纪中期，所有社会阶层的朋友以及情人们在这天彼此交换表达感情的礼物或者手写的信笺的现象就已经非常普遍了。 By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. 十八世纪末，由于印刷技术的进步，印刷的卡片开始代替了手写的书信。 对于那时候的人们来说，现成的卡片成了一种非常简单的表达情感的方式，因为那时候直接的表白情感还是不被提倡的。 Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. in the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass一produced valentines in America. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. in addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. 根据贺卡协会的估计，每年有十亿张情人节卡片被送出去，这使得情人节成为一年中第二大送贺卡的节日取次于圣诞节的大约26亿张)。近85%的情人节贺卡都是女性购买的，除了美国，加拿大、墨西哥、英国、法国和澳大利亚等国家也庆祝情人节。 Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages , and the oldest known Valentine card is on displa at the British Museum. The first commercial Valentine’s Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A.Howland.Howland,known as the Mother of the Valentine,made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". 情人节的祝福早在中世纪时期就已经很受欢迎了，而已知的最古老的情人节贺卡在大英博物馆中展出。第一批商业性情人节贺卡是在I9世纪40年代在美国由有着“情人节之母”的以斯帖·A"豪兰制作出来的，她用真丝带、缎带和多种颜色的被看做是“碎片”的图片作出了精美的贺卡。 Ok, that’s all for today. Hope you have a good day. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/b1cc2bf143323968011c92fe.html