Each year on February 14th， it is a holiday for lovers. Valentine’s Day is a good day for a man to ask his girlfriend to marry him. It is also a good day for couples to get married. The day is named after Saint Valentine. He was an early Christian churchman who helped many young lovers.

The ancient Romans celebrated a holiday for lovers more than 2，000 years ago. As part of the celebration， girls wrote their names on pieces of paper and put them in a large box. Boys reached into the box and pulled out the name of a girl. That girl became his girlfriend or sweetheart for a year.

Lovers still put their names on pieces of paper. They send each other Valentine’s Day cards that tell of their love. Sometimes they also send other gifts too， like jewelry， flowers or candy.

There is another way many Americans send messages of love on Valentine’s Day. They pay to have them printed in a newspaper. Some of the messages are simple and short: “Debby， I love you very much. From Bob.” Others say more: “Dan， roses are red， violets are blue， I hope you love me as much as I love you forever. Mary.”

每年的 2 月 14 日是情人們的節(jié)日。情人節(jié)是男士向女友求婚的好日子。同樣，情人節(jié)也是情人們結(jié)婚的好日子。這一天是以 Saint Valentine 的名字命名的。他是早期基督教的一名傳教士，他幫助了許多年輕的情侶。

兩千多年前，古羅馬人就開(kāi)始慶祝情人們的節(jié)日。作為情人節(jié)慶?；顒?dòng)的一部分，姑娘們把她們的名字分別寫(xiě)在一張張紙條上，然后把紙條放進(jìn)一個(gè)大盒子里。小伙子們把手伸進(jìn)盒子里抽出姑娘的名字。被抽中的姑娘就要在一年之內(nèi)做他的女友或是心上人。

今天，情人們?nèi)园衙謱?xiě)在一張張紙條上。他們互贈(zèng)情人節(jié)卡片，以表達(dá)他們的愛(ài)慕之情。有時(shí)，他們也會(huì)贈(zèng)送其它禮物，如珠寶、鮮花或糖果。

在情人節(jié)這一天，許多美國(guó)人還有另外一種表達(dá)愛(ài)的方式。他們花錢(qián)把他們要傳達(dá)的愛(ài)慕之情刊登在報(bào)紙上。其中一些信息簡(jiǎn)單明了：“Debby，我非常愛(ài)你，Bob”。有的信息會(huì)長(zhǎng)一些：“Dan ，玫瑰永遠(yuǎn)是紅色，紫羅蘭永遠(yuǎn)是藍(lán)色，我希望你愛(ài)我像我那樣愛(ài)你，直到永遠(yuǎn)， Mary。”