How to say ” She received a Valentine’s card and a box of extra dark chocolate from her secret admirer on Valentine’s Day” in Chinese. 在情人节，她收到一张来自秘密爱慕者的情人节卡片和一盒特别浓又深色的巧克力。Zai4 qing2 ren2 jie2, ta1 shou1 dao4 yi4 zhang1 lai2 zi4 mi4 mi4 ai4 mu4 zhe3 de5 qing2 ren2 jie2 ka3 pian4 he2 yi4 he2 te4 bie2 nong2 you4 shen1 se4 de5 qiao3 ke1 li4. Zai4 （在 preposition, on) qing2 ren2 jie2 (情人节 qing2 ren2 literally mean lovers, jie2 means holiday; together the phrase means Valentine’s Day) ta1 (她pronoun, she) shou1 dao4 (收到 shou1 dao4 is a resultative complement usage; shou1 – verb, to receive, dao4 – adverb, got it; together shou1 dao4 means have received) yi4 (一 number, one) zhang1 (张 measure word for paper or card) lai2 (来 verb, come) zi4 (自 preposition, from) mi4 mi4 (秘密 adjective, secret) ai4 mu4 zhe3 (爱慕者 noun, admirer) de5 （的 particle to connect attribute and the noun it modifies) qing2 ren2 jie2 ka3 pian4 (情人节卡片ka3 pian4 means card, together qing2 ren2 jie2 ka3 pian4 means Valentine’s Day card) he2 (和 conjunction, and) yi4 (一 number, one) he2 (盒 noun, box) te4 bie2 (特别 adverb, special) nong2 (浓 adjective, condensed) you4 (有 adverb, also) shen1 se4 (深色 shen1 -adjective- means deep, se4 -noun – means color; together they mean deep color) de5 (的 particle to connect attribute and the noun it modifies) qiao3 ke1 li4 (巧克力 noun, chocolate).
February 14 is Valentine’s Day. Do you know why it is February 14, instead of March 14 or May 4? There are some different versions about the origin (来源, lai2 yuan2) of Valentine’s Day, and the most famous (有名的 you3 ming2 de5) one is:
Around 270 AD. in ancient (古 gu3) Roman Empire (罗马帝国 luo2 ma3 di4 guo2), there was an Emperor (帝王 di4 wang2)– Claudius II. Claudius didn’t want his soldiers (士兵 shi4 bing1) to get married during wartime (战争时期 zhan4 zheng1 shi2 qi2), for he thought the newly marriage (婚姻hun1 yin1) would distract his soldiers’ performance (表现 biao3 xian4) in the critical warring time and make them weak. So he issued an edict forbidding (禁止 jin4 zhi3) marriage to assure quality soldiers. However, there was a brave and kind Bishop (主教, zhu3 jiao4), named Valentine; he realized the injustice (不公平 bu4 gong1 ping2) of the ban (禁令, jin4 ling4). After Valentine saw the trauma (创伤, chuang4 shang1) of young lovers who were forced to give up all hopes of getting united in marriage, he went against the Emperor’s wish and performed secret (秘密的 mi4 mi5 de5) wedding ceremonies (结婚典礼 jie2 hun1 dian3 li3) for the soldiers and their loved ones. The secret was unveiled and Bishop Valentine was jailed and then executed by order of the Emperor on February 14. While in jail (监狱 jian1 yu4), Valentine developed a deep friendship with the jailor’s blind daughter. It caused great grief to the young girl to know of her friend’s death sentence. Shortly before Bishop Valentine got executed (处死 chu3 si3), he wrote a love note to the jailor’s daughter with the signing (签名 qian1 ming2), “From your Valentine,” a phrase that long lived ever after.
Thus, February 14 became a special day to celebrate love (爱 ai4), and Valentine became its Patron Saint. Later, this day began to be annually observed by young Romans who made affectionate greetings cards, known as Valentines, to give to the women they loved. You might wonder, if the Roman young people had no special ones who they could write Valentine cards to? Don’t worry, they were smart enough to know to draw names from a bowl (碗 wan3) to see who would be their Valentine. What an easy match it was 🙂 They could also have the names of their heart’s desire or lucky names from the bowls pinned onto their sleeves (衣袖 yi1 xiu4 or 袖子 xiu4 zi5) for one week for everyone to see. This is the origin of “wearing your heart on your sleeve.”
Speaking of Valentine’s cards, do you know who will receive the most Valentine’s cards? It is not the one who you daydream (做白日梦 zuo4 bai2 ri4 meng4) about, and it is not your pet either. The elementary school teachers are the lucky ones — each year they got swarmed with boxes of chocolates and sparkling fancy Dora, Superman Valentine’s cards. So, if you like chocolates, you might consider to be an elementary school teacher, and you will receive free (免费 mian3 fei4) chocolates twice a year(一年两次 yi4 nian2 liang3 ci4) — Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Hopefully, they will last for one full year (一整年 yi4 zheng3 nian2).
Martina McBride
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