新视野大学英语视听说教程 3 Unit 9-15

（单词翻译）

Task3: St.Valentine’s Story
Script¹
Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. He wanted to have a big army, and he expected men to volunteer to join. Seeing many men did not want to leave their wives and families, Claudius had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So he passed a law to forbid any more marriages. I thought it was preposterous²! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!
I was a priest³, and one of my favorite activities was to marry couples. I kept on performing marriage ceremonies, secretly. One night, we heard footsteps⁴ and shouts of soldiers outside. It was scary⁵! The couple I was marrying escaped in time, but I was caught. I was thrown in jail⁶ and told that my punishment was death.
Then wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty⁷. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."                          
I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day.