Passage Seventeen Say it with Flowers
花语寄情
Part One
第一部分
Young men often give flowers to young women when they are in love. The tradition may have come from Turkey.
恋爱中的年轻男士经常送花给女友,这个传统可能来自土耳其。
In the 1700s in Turkey, it was quite popular for people in love to send each other baskets full of strange things.
18世纪的土耳其,热恋中的人相互赠送装满奇怪物品的篮子,这种做法在当时很流行。
The baskets were sent secretly to the person who was receiving it.
篮子被秘密地送给接收篮子的人。
Usually, an old woman who sold flowers or fruit on the street left the basket beside the door of that person.
通常,由街上卖花或水果的老婆婆把篮子送到那人的门旁边。
Part Two
第二部分
These baskets included many kinds of gifts: flowers, stones, candles, etc. Each thing in the basket had a special meaning.
这些篮子里包括许多种礼物:花、石头、蜡烛等。每样东西都有特殊的含义。
By working out the secret message hidden in each gift, the person who received the basket began to understand little by little the true feelings of the person who sent it.
篮子接收者想出每件物品所暗藏的信息,然后就开始渐渐地理解赠送者的真实感情。
Part Three
第三部分
The idea of sending gifts of love with secret meanings quickly spread to other countries.
这种赠送礼物传递秘密信息的示爱方式迅速传到其他国家。
However, as time passed, only sending flowers remained popular.
但是,随着时间的流逝,只有送花的传统保持了下来。
Flowers told young ladies about the feelings in the heart of young men. Each different flower had a different meaning.
花把男士心中的感情传递给女士。每种花都有不同的含义。
For example, the flowers from an orange tree meant, "you are beautiful and pure."
例如,桔树上开的花表示,“你美丽又纯洁”。
Pink carnations meant, "My love far you is great."
粉红色的康乃馨表示,“我对你的爱是热烈的”。
Yellow roses, on the other hand, meant, "I saw you with someone else."
另一方面,黄玫瑰则意味着“我看见你和别人在一起”。
Many flower dictionaries were made to help young people in love understand the meaning of the flowers they received.
为了帮助恋爱中的年轻人理解他们收到的花所代表的含义,人们编制出很多关于花的词典。
However, not all of the dictionaries agreed on the meaning of each flower, so a person had to be careful about the flowers they chose to send.
但是,对于每一种花的含义,不是所有的词典都能达成一致。因此,人们在送花时必须谨慎选择。
By the 1880s, using flowers to send messages had become unpopular, and the more direct way of sending love letters began.
到了19世纪80年代,花语寄情已经不流行,写信成为更直接的示爱方式。
Today, flowers are still considered a lovely gift, but the meaning for each kind of flower has been lost.
如今,花仍被认为是一种可爱的礼物,但以前每一种花的特定含义已经没有了。