浪漫西洋情人節

石

石兄

2001-02-13 19:49

When we send funny or romantic cards to friends on Valentine's Day, we are really celebrating two very different things. The first is the life of Saint Valentine, a Roman Christian who was jailed and eventually executed for helping other Christians. This happened on February 14, in about the year A.D. 270. It is said that while in jail, Valentine fell in love with the jailer's blind daughter and miraculously cured her blindness. Before his execution, he's supposed to have sent her a farewell note (evidently, she had learned to read amazingly quickly) signed "From Your Valentine." Coincidentally, people believed at that time that birds began mating on February 14. (That must have been in a much warmer part of the world than most of the U.S. and Canada.) The idea of lovebirds soon became associated with Saint Valentine and the custom of sending cards or small gifts on his feast day is centuries old. As for the heart shape used on the cards, since ancient times, the heart has symbolized love, both human and divine.
當我們寄卡片慶祝情人節的同時，實際上正在紀念兩件事情。最早在羅馬時代，一位名叫Valentine因為幫助基督徒而遭囚禁，並且被判處死刑，事件就發生在西元270年的二月十四號。就在被監禁時，他愛上獄卒雙目失明的女兒，並且奇蹟似地治癒她的雙目。被處死前，他以【妳的Valentine】所署名，寫給這位愛人一段辭別語，不可思議的是這位女孩竟然在很短的時間內學會閱讀文字。巧的是人們相信在二月十四日那天，鳥兒們開始交配。就這樣，人們就把理想中的愛之鳥與紀念聖人Valentine兩件事聯結在一起，也因此在這天寄卡片或是送小禮物，也變成幾世紀以來的習俗，而將紅心貼在卡上則是因為自古老時代，人們就將紅色的心型象徵為人性最神聖的愛。

Word Bank

1. jail (v.) 囚禁
2. execute (v.) 處死
3. miraculously (adv.) 奇蹟似地
4. cure (v.) 治癒
5. farewell (adj. n.) 辭別語
6. evidently (adv.) 顯然地
7. amazingly (adv.) 不可思議 8. coincidentally (adv.) 碰巧地
9. mating (v-ing) 交配
10. lovebird (n.) 愛之鳥
11. associate (v.) 聯想
12. symbolize (v.) 象徵
13. divine (n.) 神聖

石

石兄

2001-02-14 03:52

25种语言说“我爱你”

汉语 wo ai ni
丹麦语 Jeg elsker dig
葡萄牙语 Eo tu gochta
英语 I love you
波斯语 Doust tet daran
法语 Je t'aime
犹太语 Ani ohev otakh
德语 Ich liebe dich
泰语 Tchan lak teu
意大利语 Ti amo
荷兰语 Ik hou van jou
挪威语 Jeg elsker deg
波兰语 Kocham chen
日语 a na ta no kou tou si ki
阿拉伯语 Ana behabik
俄语 Ya tibia loublou
西班牙语 Te quiero
瑞典语 Jag 鋖skar dig
塞尔维亚语 Vichte lepa
亚美尼亚语 Jes kes siroumem
吉普塞语 Camav tu
拉丁语 Amo te
芬兰语 Mina ragastan sinoa
斯里兰卡语 Mame obete aderey
土耳其语 Seni seviyorum

石

石兄

2001-02-14 04:33

poems

Need a little help composing the perfect Valentine's Day love message? Get a little help from the past masters of the art of romantic writing. Send one of these poems as it is, or add your own thoughts to it.

When you can almost taste her loveliness:

To Celia
Ben Jonson
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope that there
It could not withered be;
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself but thee!

石

石兄

2001-02-14 04:43

Ever felt like running off to the country together?

The Passionate Shepherd To His Love
Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 04:49

There's something regal and a little bit mysterious about this poem...

She Walks in Beauty (Excerpt)
Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
This mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 04:50

Love and nonsense

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
Edward Lear
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 04:54

Poems don't come much steamier than this:

I Sing the Body Electric (Excerpt)
Walt Whitman
This is the female form;

A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot;
It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction!
I am drawn by its breath as if I were
no more than a helpless vapour -
all falls aside but myself and it;
Books, art, religion, time, the visible and
solid earth, the atmosphere and the clouds,
and what was expected of heaven or fear'd of hell, are
now consumed;
Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it -
the response likewise ungovernable;
Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs,
negligent falling hands, all diffused -
mine too diffused;
Ebb stung by the flow, and flow stung by the ebb -
love-flesh swelling and deliciously aching;
Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous,
quivering jelly of love, white-blow and delirious juice;
Bridegroom night of love, working surely and softly
into the prostrate dawn;
Undulating into the willing and yielding day,
Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweet-flesh'd day.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 04:57

If your love's forbidden, this may say what you cannot:

Renouncement
Alice Meynell
I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong,
I shun the thought that lurks in all delight -
The thought of thee - and in the blue Heaven's height,
And in the sweetest passage of a song.
O just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng
This breast, the thought of thee waits hidden yet bright;
But it must never, never come in sight;
I must stop short of thee the whole day long.
But when sleep comes to close each difficult day,
When night gives pause to the long watch I keep
And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,
Must doff my will as raiment laid away, -
With the first dream that comes with the first sleep
I run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 05:03

Scared to put your heart in another's hands?:

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
William Butler Yeats
Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim of the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I being poor have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 05:07

If it's time to step up the pace

To His Coy Mistress
Andrew Marvell
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews;
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on they forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state;
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor in thy marble vault shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity;
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapped power,
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 05:14

My favourite love poem:

How Do I Love Thee?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!
-and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 05:21

For a secret love...

Darling,

If only I dared call you that! If only I dared think that you might feel the same way about me as I do about you...

We're friends. At least, I like to think we are. I know I make you laugh. I treasure those moments, and when I'm lying alone at night, I take them out and look at them, one by one, like photographs in an album.

Sometimes, I dare to dream that you might smile because I laughed at something you said. That you might want to hold me, be with me, laugh with me...

If I were braver, I'd tell you in person. As it is, this letter is the best I can bring myself to do. Be gentle with me...

With all my love,

石

石兄

2001-02-14 17:47

Be My Valentine!

Hi,
Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine
I'm leaving my life in your hands
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind
Risking it all in a glance
How you got me blind is still a mystery
I can't get you out of my head
Don't care what is written in your history
As long as you're here with me

I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me

Every little thing that you have said and done
Feels like it's deep within me
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run
It seems like we're meant to be

I've tried to hide it so that no one knows
But I guess it shows
When you look into my eyes
What you did and where you're comin' from
I don't care, as long as you love me, baby

This is the song I familiar with...
Now,I send it to you...
Can you accept it,my dear?

Be My Valentine!

石

石兄

2001-02-14 17:58

Darling,
I love you. Three little words that mean so much, yet seem to say so little. The way I feel about you, I need other words, bigger words, words that don't get used so often.
I need a word for the heart bursting joy that sets my head spinning whenever I think of you. I need another for the warm ocean of contentment I feel lapping around me when I think of the years we will have together in the future. And another for the determination I feel when I think of you - determination to make you so happy you will be mine forever. And the words for the desire you raise in me....
But the only words I have are "I love you".
I love you.
Forever yours,

石

石兄

2001-02-14 18:00

To the lust of your life

Darling,
You have brought more delight into my life than I had ever thought I could experience. I love you with my whole heart, and adore you with my body.
I burn for you.
I think of touching you - your hair, your hands, your secret places - and I feel as if I will burst out of my skin if I can't caress you, hold you, have you. The merest feather-touch of your hand is enough to set my heart racing. I long to be alone with you, in the quiet and the dark, to stroke your velvet skin and take you to the same peak of ecstasy that you raise in me.
Be mine.

石

石兄

2001-02-14 18:01

A marriage proposal

Dearest,
You have brought more joy into my life than I ever dreamed I could be lucky enough to have. Suddenly, my life has point and purpose.
I think of you when I wake, and the day without you seems too long to get through. At work, I think about you all the time. In the evening, I'm happy when I'm with you - but if I'm not, I can't settle. What's the point of watching television, if I can't put my arm round you while I do it?
And at night... at night, you're the last thing I think of before I go to sleep. I dream of you. Such happy dreams! Is it possible to smile while you're asleep? I think so.
The only thing that could make me happier is if we were sharing our lives completely. No more evenings wishing you were here. No more nights alone.
Please, will you marry me?
With all my heart,

石

石兄

2001-02-14 18:03

To a lover you fear may be leaving you

Dearest,
You give point and purpose to my life. You've given me more joy than I could ever have imagined having in my life. Without you, nothing is worth doing and the universe might as well cease to exist for all I care.
Yet I put all that at risk for a few moments of pleasure. I was so selfish. I should have thought more of your feelings and needs instead of what I wanted.
I think of you, and for a little while I imagine that everything is right between us. In that instant, I'm happy. But then, inevitably, I realise that I've lost you. The world turns grey. Nothing matters.
Except for this one tiny hope that I have: that it's not too late. That somehow, I can persuade you to give me another chance. Please. If you want me to beg, I'll beg. If there's something I can do to win you back, name it. Anything. Only please don't go.
With love,

石

石兄

2001-02-14 22:29

Romeo:My love! My wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou are not conquered. Beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial Death is amorous,
Keeps thee here is dark to be his paramour?
Here. O, here will i set up my everlasting rest
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh.
Eyes, look your last!
Arms, thke your last embrace! And,lips, O you

罗密欧：我的爱人!我的妻子：
死神虽然吸干了你甜蜜的气息，
却没有力量摧毁你的美丽。
你没有被征服，美丽的红旗仍然
轻拂着你的嘴唇和面颊，
死神的白旗还未插到那里。
亲爱的朱丽叶，
你为什么依然如此美丽?难道要我相信
无形的死神很多情，
把你藏在这暗洞里做他的情妇?
这儿，啊，我要在这儿永远安息
从我这厌恶人生的躯体上
挣脱厄运的奴役。
眼睛，最后再看一次：
手臂，最后拥抱一次吧! 嘴唇，啊!

爱，自由，美

浪漫西洋情人節