英语课程计划-Armistice Day（在线收听）

Armistice Day is on November the 11th every year. It commemorates the end of World War I on the 11th of November 1918. It was on this day that the Allies and Germany signed a ceasefire that was the beginning of the end of the Great War. Hostilities ended on the Western Front, taking effect at eleven o'clock in the morning. This became famously known as "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". While it was “all quiet on the Western Front,” the war continued for a while longer in other parts of Europe, especially in the former Russian Empire. WWI was called “the War to End All Wars”. Most of the world's great powers fought in it. Over 20 million people died, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in history.

Armistice Day is observed all over the world. In many countries, people stop what they are doing for a two-minute moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. This is a sign of respect for those who died. In Britain, there is another name for Armistice Day - Remembrance Sunday. In 1939, the British government moved Armistice Day to the Sunday nearest November 11. In America, the day is also called Veterans Day. Children in Commonwealth countries know these days by another name – Poppy Day. People wear poppies and donate money to charities for soldiers injured in wars. Poppies are a symbol of the blood that filled the trenches. Poppies also bloomed across some of the worst battlefields during the War.