标题: [推荐] ENGLISH LISTENING 9.20 [打印本页] 作者: echooooo 时间: 2007-9-20 00:26 标题: ENGLISH LISTENING 9.20
Father's Day 父亲节
Father's Day is a fairly new celebration in the British calendar compared with Mother's Day, which has been a very popular and well celebrated festival in the UK for a very long time.
The origins of the celebration are American and it was inspired by the actions of a man named William Smart. He was a veteran of the US Civil War and his wife died giving birth to their sixth child. He raised six children alone without remarrying, which was undoubtedly unusual back in those days.
His daughter, Sonora Dodd, realised when she was an adult what her father had sacrificed for his children. It was in the early 1900s and she was actually at church one day, listening to a sermon on Mother's Day. She thought there should also be a Father's Day celebration.
And so the tradition was born, on the third Sunday every June, close to the anniversary of Sonora's father's death. Britain took the idea of Father's Day from the American celebration and it has been celebrated officially since the 1970s.
Father's Day is never quite such the big commercial event that Mother's Day is, probably because it hasn't been in existence for so long. But what do British people do for Father's Day?
Well, most people would buy their fathers a card. The card would probably have a nice message in it saying what a great Dad their father is. Some people do buy presents as well.
Popular gifts for Dads are probably ties, chocolates or socks because these are things that Dads can always use even if they don't want them. In the run-up to Father's Day, or indeed Mother's Day, there will be adverts on the TV giving us ideas of CDs or gadgets we can buy. Card shops will be full of mugs or pens and similar merchandise with 'World's Greatest Dad' written on them.
Some families might do things together to celebrate Father's Day like going for a meal. As a special treat, British people might give their Dad a bit of a rest – make him a cup of tea, or even wash his car and mow the lawn to make him feel really appreciated.. 作者: echooooo 时间: 2007-9-20 00:43
GLOSSARY 词汇表
celebration庆祝 inspired by受启发 Civil War内战 remarrying再婚
sacrificed牺牲 officially正式地 in existence存在 adverts广告
mugs杯子 treat款待 origins起源 veteran退役军人
raised养育了 undoubtedly毫无疑问的 sermon传教 commercial商业性的
the run-up…即将到来之际 gadgets小器具,小玩意 merchandise商品 mow the lawn除草