世界节假日博览 第116期:父亲节

 Father's Day is celebrated¹ all around the world to say thank you to dads. An old English proverb tells how important fathers are. It says: “A father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” Many of us perhaps think our father is even more important. There is no age limit for the person saying thank you, nor for the dad. There is no universal date when every country celebrates Father’s Day. In many countries it is on the third Sunday in June. Most fathers receive presents and cards and perhaps even a special dinner. The day has a special punctuation² point. The apostrophe is placed before the ‘s’. This means we all think about our own father. Of course, if the apostrophe was placed after the ‘s’, we would be honouring all the fathers in the world.

父亲节为全球性节日，我们要在这天向爸爸们说声谢谢。一句英语格言告诉了我们父亲的重要意义。它称：“父亲胜过师长百位。”许多人或许认为父亲的地位更加重要。所有人都能够对他人说声谢谢，没有年龄限制，更不要说对爸爸说了。全球父亲节日并不固定。在许多国家，每年6月的第3个周日为父亲节。多数父亲会收到礼物，贺卡，甚至是一顿特殊的晚餐。该节日的标点符号极为特殊。撇号放在了“s”之前。旨在感谢自己的父亲。如果撇号放在“s”之后，那么我们会纪念全天下的父亲。

Father’s Day historians³ believe the day started in Washington state in the USA. A lady called Sonora Dodd was sitting in church one Sunday in 1909, listening to a sermon⁴ on Mother’s Day. She decided⁵ it was only fair to also have a day for fathers. In 1910, she arranged a special church service to say thank you for own father. The idea took off very slowly. U.S. Presidents. from Calvin Coolidge in 1926 to Richard Nixon in 1972, supported the idea. Nixon started the permanent official Father's Day in June, 1972. Today it is a major holiday. It has become extremely commercialized, which is good and bad. The shops are so full of Father’s Day stuff, it is almost impossible to forget when the day is.

相关历史学家认为，该节日起源于美国华盛顿州。1909年某个周日，一位名叫索诺拉·多德的女士坐在教堂里，聆听母亲节布道。她认为人们也应该清楚父亲节。1910年，她安排了一次特殊的礼拜仪式，向自己的父亲说声谢谢。该项提议起步缓慢。从1926年的卡尔文·库利奇总统，到1972年的尼克松总统，他们均支持设立该节日。1972年6月，尼克松将父亲节定为官方节日。如今，父亲节成为了我们的主要节日。但却商业化浓重，这既是好事又是坏事。商店满是父亲节礼物，你想忘记也几乎不可能。

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

3 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。

4 sermon   

n.布道，讲道，说教，冗长的讲话

参考例句：

• The minister preaches a sermon now and then.牧师不时地讲道。
• Don't preach me a sermon,please.请不要对我讲大道理。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。