▍課程導讀
情人節又要到了，依然單身的你……在想什么？放棄治療，準備受虐？自暴自棄，胡吃海塞？NO! 這些都太 cliché 了！新的打開方式是和友鄰同學共讀新聞，了解情人節的那些“黑”歷史。其實，情人節這一古老的節日可以追溯到公元前，具體來歷也有許多版本，而且這些版本都和古羅馬有關。來歷一，盧帕撒拉節，用來對婦女和婚姻之神約娜統治下的其他眾神表示尊敬的節日；來歷二，紀念偉大的 Valentine 牧師——反對暴君 Claudius 的政策，秘密為年輕男女主持結婚典禮。然而不管是那個版本，與“浪漫”二字都沾不上邊，反而有些血腥和暴力。
注：本節講解后半段，Mat 老師分享了“8個不要仇視情人節的原因”。請小伙伴們認真聽起來，或許能打開新世界的大門哦~
本篇課程首發于2018年2月12日
▍原文
The Muddled 【a.糊涂的】Origins of Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and send lovey-dovey 公開秀恩愛kissy messages to your partner伴侶. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids丘比特 are actually a bit dark, bloody — and very muddled糊涂的.
Though historians have struggled to pinpoint 精確的支出the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to start is ancient Rome.
From Feb 13th to 15th, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia盧帕撒拉節，用來對婦女和婚姻之神約娜統治下的其他眾神表示尊敬的節日. Men sacrificed 犧牲a goat山羊 and a dog, then whipped 鞭打women with the hides of the animals they had just slain被殺死的. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them. Not very romantic. The brutal 殘酷的festival included a matchmaking 相親lottery彩票, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar, kind of an ancient Roman dating app.
The Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II wanted a strong army, but was having a difficult time finding soldiers. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families. So he banned marriage. One priest 牧師named Valentine, 紀念偉大的 Valentine 牧師——反對暴君 Claudius 的政策，秘密為年輕男女主持結婚典禮continued to secretly perform marriages for young lovers. When Valentine's romantic actions were discovered, Claudius arrested逮捕 him and cut off his head on February 14th. He was martyred 殉道者and the day became known as St. Valentine's Day.
Later, in the 5th century Pope Gelasius I muddled 糊涂的things even more by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to make a single festival.? Around the same time in Northern Europe, the Normans celebrated Galatin's Day. Galatin meant "a day to celebrate your love for a woman." That was likely confused with St. Valentine's Day at some point, in part because they sound alike. Galatin – Valentine.
As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer 喬索and Shakespeare 莎士比亞romanticized it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe and handmade paper cards became the in-thing during the Middle Ages.
Eventually, the industrial revolution ushered 引領in factory-made cards in the 19th century and in the 20th century, big companies began mass producing Valentines cards. February has not been the same since.
▍生詞好句
1. lovey-dovey 秀恩愛/l?v??d?vi, ?l?v??d?vi /: adj. very affectionate or romantic, usually in front of other people
If two people in a romantic relationship are being lovey-dovey, behaving in a lovey-dovey way, or acting very lovey-dovey, they show their love for each other in public by holding hands, touching each other, maybe kissing in public and saying lots of sweet lovely things to each other. They are being "lovey-dovey".
2. Cupid 丘比特/?kju?p?d/: In classical mythology, Cupid, is the god of love, attraction and affection, usually shown as a naked baby boy with wings holding a bow and arrow. If Cupid fires the arrow into the heart of two people, they will fall in love.
to play cupid: to try to bring two people together to start a romantic relationship
3. matchmaking 相親/?mat?me?k??/: n. the activity of encouraging people you know to form a relationship or get married, just like playing cupid
subtle matchmaking: matchmaking that is done not in a very obvious way
4. romanticize /r?(?)?mant?s??z/: vi & vt. to think or say that someone or something is more romantic, or more exciting than it really is in reality
If you romanticize (about) sth., you talk about it in a way that makes it seem more romantic or attractive than it really is.
▍??Fact Time: 8 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Hate Valentine's Day
1. You hate Valentine's Day because you're single. But it's not just for couples.
Valentine's Day is all about love. You love lots of people even if you don't have a significant other. Tell your friends or relatives you love them and they will say it back (if not, get new friends).
情人節不止couple之間
2. 'Why not just show your love all year round?'
Love can be specially highlighted on one specific day.
每天都能表達愛意，不一定非要在特定的一天
3. You hate Valentine's Day because it's a commercial and corporate holiday.
Why would you hate something because it's commercial? Everything is commercial nowadays. Our modern life is commercial. We live a modern commercial lifestyle.
4. You hate Valentine's Day gifts.
Flowers, teddy bears and chocolates are such clichéd gifts to show you care about someone. But not every gift needs to be super creative and personalized. Clichéd gifts are clichéd for a reason. And people buy clichéd gifts on every holiday. This is not the reason to hate the holiday.
5. 'It's just another way for couples to show off and make single people feel lonely.'
People don't fall in love and have relationships to make single people feel bad or jealous. If you don't like seeing other people in love on Valentine's Day, stay at home. Don't mourn about their love for each other. They are not going out on Valentine's Day to make you feel bad.
6. 'It's so much trouble to go out on the same night that everyone else is going out!'
The modern world is crowded. It's crowed on Valentine's Day and other holidays. If you hate crowds, stay at home and have a romantic night in, or go for a quiet romantic walk at night, staring at the moon and stars.
7. You're single and you hate being single on Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day is your chance to take a chance, a perfect day to proclaim your feelings for someone.
8. All this hate is a waste of time and energy, and it does not make you more attractive.
Don't walk around looking miserable, telling everyone how much you hate Valentine's Day. Tell everyone how much you love Valentine's Day and how you wish you had someone special to share it with. This will make you more attractive.
