生活情景英语单词之不可不知的六大情人节

　　1: Romantic 浪漫的
　　We associate this word with sweetness and love, but it emerged from the conquer ing powers of the Roman Empire.
　　虽然我们一直把romantic这个词与“甜蜜、爱情”相联系，但是这个词却来自于罗马帝国的强大的征服力。
　　The expansion of ancient Rome created various dialects of Latin called romans. (These evolved into Italian, French, Spanish, and others – the Romance languages.)
　　古罗马帝国的扩张致使了各种拉丁方言的诞生，这些方言被称作romans。（现在这些方言演变为了意大利语、法语、西班牙语等等罗曼语系。）
　　Romans were used to write popular stories involving chivalric or courtly love, and such tales became known as romances.
　　当时人们用Romans语言来写包括骑士时代或宫廷式爱情故事在内的各种流行小说，而这些故事后来就被称为romances了。
　　If we describe Rome today as a romantic city, we're using a word that has travelled a long way to come home.
　　如果现在我们用romantic这个词来形容罗马的话，那我们可是把这个词从远方带回了它的故乡呢。
　　2: Valentine 情人；情人节礼物
　　Christianity has more than one martyr named Valentine, and the one, true Valentine is uncertain.
　　基督教的殉教者中绝对不止一个人叫Valentine，而这个真正的Valentine究竟是谁并不确定。
　　Romantics favor the tale of the third-century Roman emperor and priest Valentine. Supposedly, Valentine had fallen in love with his jailer's daughter, and shortly before his death sent a letter to her from your Valentine.
　　浪漫主义者们喜欢三世纪罗马帝王与牧师Valentine的故事。据说，牧师Valentine同监狱狱卒的女儿相爱了，在自己临死前不久，他给了女孩一封信，上面写着“来自你的Valentine”。
　　3: Amour 奸情
　　In 2010, a poll of linguist s rated amour – the French word for love, simple and sweet – the most romantic word in the world. In English, the word gains drama and loses innocence.
　　2010年语言学家们开展了一次投票，amour这个意为“爱情”的法语单词被选为世界上最浪漫的单词，因为它简单又甜蜜。可是到了英语里，这个词被赋予了更多戏剧感，而丧失了原本的纯真。（这个词真冤啊！）
　　4: Adonis 美少年
　　In Greek mythology , the beautiful young Adonis was beloved by both Persephone and Aphrodite, so Zeus decreed the young man should divide his time and attention between the two goddesses.
　　在希腊神话中，美少年Adonis同时受到冥界王后Persephone以及爱与美的女神Aphrodite的爱慕，最后宙斯命令Adonis要分配时间和精力给两位女神。
　　He was later killed by a wild boar – an attack that may have been arranged to avenge another of Adonis' romantic intrigue s.
　　Adonis后来被一头野猪杀死，这一次的袭击可能是有人安排，为了替另一个与Adonis私通者报仇。
　　5: Aphrodisiac 催欲的；春药
　　Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love (who was infatuated with Adonis) gave the Greeks the words 'aphrodisia' (heterosexual pleasure) and 'aphrodisiakos' (a gem with aphrodisiac powers).
　　从热恋着Adonis的希腊爱神Aphrodite的名字衍生出了两个希腊单词：aphrodisia（性快感）和aphrodisiakos（春药）。
　　其实aphrodisiac 这个词也不一定就是那么猥琐的啦，比如可以这么用：
　　To me, one of the most successful attributes of an aphrodisiac meal are colors, aromas, tastes and textures that wake up the palate and challenge the mind. – Amy Reiley
　　于我而言，能激起人欲望的菜肴最成功的一些特性在于它那能挑拨味蕾、动摇思想的色香味和口感。– Amy Reiley
　　6: Infatuation 醉心
　　An infatuation , by definition, is an emotion that shouldn't be taken too seriously. The word's etymology makes the same point. It traces back to the Latin for foolish or silly, as does another insulting term: fatuous.
　　从定义上来说，infatuation所表达的这种感情是不能太当真的。从词源学来说也是如此。追究infatuation的起源会发现，它同另一个侮辱人的单词fatuous（愚昧的）一样，都是来自于拉丁语中某个表达“愚蠢，糊涂”意思的单词。
　　究竟什么是infatuation，什么是love？有人给了这样的形容：
　　Infatuation is like a roller coaster ride – crazy, scary and somewhat fun, while love is something more down to earth, less exhilarating , less dramatic but more real.
　　Infatuation就像坐过山车，刺激、心慌、又有些兴奋；而love不像infatuation这样漂浮，它没那么令人振奋、没那么扣人心弦，但却更加现实。