Mrs.John B.Dodd，of Washington，first proposed the idea of a “father’s day”in 1909.Mrs.Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father William，whose wife died while giving birth to their sixth child.Mr.Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.It was after Mrs.Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.
The first Father’s Day was observed on June 19，1910in Washington.And it was in 1966that President Lyndon Johnson officially declared the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day.
Father’s Day has become a day to not only honor your father，but all men who act as a father figure.Stepfathers，uncles，grandfathers，and adult male friends are all honored on Father’s Day.
父亲节的由来
父亲节与普遍的误解不同的是，它并非是一个为了帮助贺卡制作厂商销售更多贺卡的节日。事实上，当“父亲节”的提议首先被提出时，父亲节贺卡根本就不存在。
华盛顿州的约翰·布鲁斯·多德夫人在1909年首先提出了设立“父亲节”的提议。多德夫人希望有一个特殊的日子来向她的父亲——威廉·斯玛特表示敬意。他的妻子在生他们第六个孩子时因难产而死。斯玛特先生在华盛顿州东部乡下的农场里独自养大了六个孩子。多德太太成人后她才意识到她的父亲一个人养大孩子所表现的力量和无私。
1910年的6月19日人们在华盛顿庆祝了第一个父亲节。林登·约翰逊总统最终于1966年宣布每年六月的第3个星期天为父亲节。
父亲节现在已经成为向父亲及所有扮演父亲角色的人表达敬意的节日。继父、伯父、祖父，所有成年男性都将在父亲节受到尊敬。
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day was Feb.14，and Chinese call it “lovers’day”.I don ‘t think the translation is an accurate one，since it doesn’t belong exclusively to lovers.Valentine’s Day is for expressing affection of all sorts.But it is unequivocally the romantically involved who shine the brightest，who spend the most money，whose hearts are the most engaged.
When I was a boy my mother would buy enough cheap cards with clumsy drawings of butterflies and bunnies and honeybees for me to give one to every kid in my class，about 20or so.The cards came in bags，and each card had a few fatuous words—“Be Mine”or “I Like You”or “You’ve Got My Heart”or the utterly vapid，“Hi，Valentine！”I would scrawl my name on the cards and the name of one of my classmates on each flimsy envelope.I would insert the cards into the envelopes，and then I would lick each one shut，but they were so cheap that the envelopes rarely had enough glue.On Valentine’s Day，I would take the cards to school—everyone did.We would have a party in our classroom，with cupcakes and juice and tiny candy hearts，which also had Valentine messages printed on them—“You’re Sweet”or “Cupid”or “Love”.
Ah，love！That’s the Valentine’s Day message：love.No one knows for certain the origin of the holiday.Several Catholic martyrs were named Valentine，but it’s difficult to separate legend from fact.One story tells of a priest named Valentine who was imprisoned and may have been stoned to death around 270for performing marriages in defiance of the orders of the Roman Emperor Claudius II.But it’s hard today to find any religious connection.
As I got a little older，I came to hate the school ritual around Valentine’s Day.I didn’t like the feel of the dry，brittle paper of the cards and licking the envelope flaps disgusted me.Plus the first blush of liking everyone had worn off—some kids just weren’t nice，and I didn’t want them as my “special”Valentine，which was always the message on the cards.
Perhaps more significantly，my own heart was beginning to flutter in the presence of certain specific girls—I had a crush on Janice Lamb beginning at about age eleven.In fact，I remember writing her name on six or seven cards.The hard part was that Janice Lamb had a crush on Larry Jones，so she sent him extra cards，and he sent Dawn Rockwell extras，and so on around the room.Valentine’s Day became something of a torment—an introduction to the heartbreak of unrequited love （“heartbreak”=607，000hits on Google；“unrequited love”=118，000hits）.
Mercifully，the silliness of these juvenile cards stopped by about age 12，but the agony and the ecstasy of course continued.In 12th grade Mrs.Skala，my literature teacher，whose family roots were in Scotland，constantly sang the praises of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.At that age，I was not fond of school or Mrs.Skala and certainly not of poetry.But I was by that time quite enamored of Linda Fowler，whom I would have done anything to impress.On Valentine’s Day that year，Mrs.Skala read aloud Burns’s poem “A Red，Red Rose.”Perhaps my infatuation with Linda Fowler made me vulnerable，and the mix of sweetness and joy and despair and hope in the poem took me by surprise.
It’s appropriate to take a look at this famous poem today，in conjunction with Valentine’s Day.Incidentally，enter the first line of the poem into Google and 21，900hits pop up.
A Red，Red Rose
O my love is like a red，red rose，
That’s newly sprung in June；
O my love is like the melody，
That’s sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou，my bonnie lass，
So deep in love am I；
And I will love thee still，my dear，
Till a’the seas gang dry.
Till a’the seas gang dry，my dear，
And the rocks melt wi’the sun！
O I will love thee still，my dear，
While the sands o’life shall run.
And fare thee weel，my only love，
And fare thee weel a while；
And I will come again，my love，
Tho’it were ten thousand mile！
A few years ago，I read a survey of one hundred men，celebrities from various walks of life，all of whom were over 60.They were asked what they would do differently if they could live their lives again.Almost to a man they answered，“love more.”
Here’s something：type “Valentine’s Day”into the Google search engine on the internet and 1.5million hits are found.The word “love”generates a list of 120million sites；“what is love”returns 108，000hits.
瓦伦丁节
2月14日是瓦伦丁节，中国人称之为情人节。我认为对这一节日名称的中文翻译并不准确，因为这个节日并不仅仅属于相爱的男女。瓦伦丁节是表达各种爱的节日，但毫无疑问，陷入浪漫爱情的人在这个节日最有神采，也最肯花钱，也最为动情。
当我还是个小男孩时，妈妈会在瓦伦丁节之前给我买来很多便宜的贺卡，上面有画工拙劣的蝴蝶、小兔、蜜蜂，用来送给班里的每个孩子（全班一共有大约20名同学）。这些贺卡是装在塑料袋里的，每张贺卡上都有一句冒傻气的话：“做我的人吧”，“我喜欢你”，“你赢得了我的心”，还有十足的空话“你好，瓦伦丁！”我在每张贺卡上面潦草地写上自己的名字，并且在每个薄薄的信封上写上一个同学的名字。我把贺卡装进信封，然后用舌头去舔，好让信封粘上，但是因为价格太便宜，极少的信封上面才有足够的胶。在瓦伦丁节那天，我就把这些贺卡带到学校——其实谁都这样做。我们就在教室里开派对，有纸托蛋糕、果汁，还有小小的心形糖果，上面还印着瓦伦丁节的特有词语——“你可爱”、“丘比特”或是“爱”。
啊，爱！这就是瓦伦丁节的信息：爱。没有人确切知道这一节日的来源。有几名天主教殉道士的名字叫瓦伦丁，但是要把传说与事实分开是件很困难的事。有个故事是说在公元270年左右有一个名为瓦伦丁的神父，他无视罗马皇帝克劳狄二世的禁令为一对新人主持了婚礼而被关进牢房，后来可能被石头砸死。但是今天很难找到这个节日与宗教的任何关联。
