V alentine’s Day

By Amirah Ahmad

提到“情人節(jié)”，人們的反應(yīng)首先是浪漫的愛情和巧克力。其實(shí)，情人節(jié)的特別，不只是因?yàn)榍煽肆Γ且驗(yàn)椤皭邸薄槿碎g的愛，朋友間的愛，家人間的愛。2014年的情人節(jié)，你準(zhǔn)備好了嗎？

Some people are armed while some people actively embrace it,but no one doubts its ubiquity in the air.1. 有些人對它加以戒備，有些人則熱情接受，沒有人懷疑它是無處不在的。ubiquity: 普遍存在，無處不在。Everyone is susceptible to2. susceptible to: 易受……影響的，對……敏感的。its power. It is what makes the world turn, breaking hearts but repairing them simultaneously3. simultaneously: 同時(shí)地，同步地。. The most intelligent students cannot comprehend it, Einstein never figured out a formula to calculate its strength, and Pablo Picasso could never put it on canvas.4. 連最聰明的學(xué)生也無法理解它，愛因斯坦沒能想出一個(gè)可以計(jì)算它能量的公式，巴勃羅·畢加索也沒能將它呈現(xiàn)在畫布上。Pablo Picasso: 巴勃羅·畢加索（1881—1973），西班牙畫家、雕塑家，是現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)的創(chuàng)始人，西方現(xiàn)代派繪畫的主要代表。Its evasiveness, however, is what motivates us to run after it.5. evasiveness: 閃避，含糊其辭；motivate: 激發(fā)，促動。

That’s why, of course, we have an entire day to celebrate the one thing that no one can understand.

Love.

In America, Valentine’s Day is often referred to as a holiday where either people are delirious with bliss while spending the day with their soul mate or mourning their single status, eating a box of chocolates they bought for themselves.6. delirious: 發(fā)狂的，精神錯亂的；soul mate: 精神伴侶，心靈伴侶。We imagine couples frolicking through parks and meadows, while girls and boys who don’t have a boy or girlfriend sit in their bedrooms lamenting their miserable love life.7. frolic: 嬉鬧，歡快地玩耍；lament:感到悲痛，感到失望。More or less, this is the basic gist8. gist: 主旨，要點(diǎn)。of the holiday. However, there are several different types of love to be taken into consideration. Romantic love is important, but not the only type of affection that should be or is celebrated as a part of Valentine’s Day. The beauty of this day is the commemoration of all types of loves that dictate all relationships, whether they are romantic or familial.9. 這一天的美好之處在于對各種愛的紀(jì)念，這些愛影響著我們的關(guān)系，無論是愛情還是親情。dictate:影響，控制。

I’ve decided to divide the different characteristics of love into three categories.

1. Child’s play

This type of affection is apparent in all children under the age of 12, who are silly enough to eat glue but also innocent enough to religiously follow the rule that prohibits them from10. prohibit sb. from doing sth.: 禁止某人做某事。running with scissors. For these children,Valentine’s Day is a day filled with treats and corny but endearing cards that are exchanged.11. corny: 老生常談的，過時(shí)的；endearing: 惹人喜愛的，討人喜歡的。They have no idea what love means, moreover they have no clue12. have no clue: （對……）一無所知。what it is. Essentially, this day is all about the treats. A day or two before, children start to prepare their Valentine’s Day treats. Although these treats aren’t required, they are advised primarily because of one rule: if you don’t give, you don’t get. And all children want to get.

Furthermore, grocery stores know what to expect. They’re stocked with13. stock with: （使）備有，（使）儲備有。cards and candy just for those children. With a list of children in the class that is usually given to them by their teacher, the kids write the name of each of their classmates on every one of the cards possibly with a note before taping a piece of candy to it. On the day, these treats are passed out14. pass out: 分發(fā)，分配。and they enjoy the candy while the rest of America spends their Valentine’s Day in a different way.

2. A day of mourning

This type of love-sickness is both pitiful but also enjoyable from an observer’s perspective15. perspective: 視角，觀點(diǎn)。. It consists of pubescent16. pubescent: 青春期的。teenagers lamenting over the lack of boyfriends or girlfriends. From ages 12—18, both girls and boys are guilty of this practice and they all know it. Many often make an effort of incorporating17. incorporate: 混合，把……并入。red or pink into their out fits for a cute touch, but in reality it’s a day of mourning for these teens that haven’t met anyone special. The entire day, they mourn over the boyfriend they never had, feeling their juvenile hearts break when they see couples strolling the hallways, walking awkwardly with their hands grasped awkwardly together.18. juvenile: 青少年的，不成熟的；stroll:漫步，閑逛；awkwardly: 笨拙地，不熟練地。

To those who feel bad about themselves on Valentine’s Day, I have only one thing to say: Don’t fret19. fret: 煩惱，擔(dān)心。; you’ll find the “one.”

3. All-encompassing20. all-encompassing : 包羅萬象的，無所不包的。

This type of love is most beautiful. For those who practice the “allencompassing” way of Valentine’s Day, all loved ones are celebrated. A box of chocolates with a card with a heart-warming message is given to their special someone, while chocolate and other small gifts are distributed to their entire family. This way, everyone’s happy and feels loved, exactly the feeling this day should elicit21. elicit: 引發(fā)，引起。.

There are certain holidays that have been desecrated by gifts, shopping,and money and there remain few days that still achieve the purpose they were created to fulfill.22. 有些節(jié)日已經(jīng)被禮物、購物以及紅包糟蹋了，只剩下少數(shù)幾個(gè)節(jié)日還能實(shí)現(xiàn)人們創(chuàng)造它們的初衷。desecrate: 故意破壞，褻瀆、It’s easy to get caught up with holiday shopping,and spend time and money looking for the perfect gifts to give to family and friends on Christmas. Yet, spending ridiculous23. ridiculous: 荒謬的，可笑的，此處ridiculous amounts of time and money指大量的時(shí)間和金錢。amounts of time and money for gifts doesn’t seem all that worth it in the end. It’s wonderful to spend Thanksgiving Day dining with the family, but the elegance of the day is ruined by black Friday shopping the following day.24. Thanksgiving Day: 感恩節(jié)。美國、加拿大等國的習(xí)俗節(jié)日，起源于最初來到北美的移民為豐收向上帝和印第安人獻(xiàn)上感謝。美國的慶祝日期為每年11月的第四個(gè)星期四。加拿大是每年10月的第二個(gè)星期一；black Friday: 黑色星期五。是感恩節(jié)（11月第四個(gè)星期四）后開業(yè)的第一天，很多商店都會顧客盈門從而有大額進(jìn)帳。而傳統(tǒng)上用不同顏色的墨水來記賬，紅色表示虧損即赤字，黑色表示盈利。所以人們把這個(gè)星期五叫做“黑色星期五”，用以表示這一天期待會有盈利。It seems as if this consumer society has not only brainwashed our minds but also has in filtrated25. brainwash: 給……洗腦；in filtrate: 潛入，滲入。our holidays.

Valentine’s Day, however, has managed to keep its integrity26. integrity: 正直，誠實(shí)。此處指情人節(jié)堅(jiān)持了它的初衷。. There are no shopping deals or retail store sales that can distract from this joyous occasion.It’s simply a day set aside27. set aside: 留出。to show gratitude to loved ones. In simpler terms,it’s a day of love and chocolate, the two greatest things on earth.