[ti:'Carrying a Torch for Someone' Can Hurt A Lot] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:07.72]And now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English. [00:19.80]February 14 is Valentine’s Day in the United States! [00:25.88]For many people, it is a romantic day. [00:30.24]It’s the day to show your love for that special someone in your life, [00:35.64]usually a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife. [00:42.36]Of course, you should do that every day. [00:46.00]But on Valentine’s Day there is a special pressure to do so with a gift. [00:53.52]Popular gifts for this holiday include flowers, [00:58.44]candy and a card or maybe a nice dinner out in a restaurant. [01:06.88]Some people use Valentine’s Day to declare their love for someone. [01:13.12]Just be careful. [01:15.36]A declaration of love is a serious move. [01:19.56]And, if the person you love is also a friend, [01:23.96]you may put your friendship at risk. [01:28.36]There is no turning back once you say the words, “I love you.” [01:34.12]In other words, there is no putting that genie back in the bottle. [01:40.36]Or maybe it happens the other way around for you. [01:45.24]Maybe Valentine’s Day is the day you find out that you have a secret admirer. [01:53.00]That happened to me once and it was very awkward. [01:59.28]One Valentine’s Day many years ago, [02:02.68]an old flame of mine showed up at my door unexpectedly, out of the blue. [02:10.76]In one hand he had chocolates, in the other some beautiful flowers. [02:18.84]He told me that he never stopped thinking of me [02:22.28]and that he still loved me. [02:26.68]I was shocked. [02:28.08]I had not seen him in over a year. [02:31.08]Then my shock turned to pity because I did not feel the same way. [02:37.20]While he had carried a torch for me for all those months, [02:41.28]I had gotten over him a long time ago. [02:45.76]Still, I invited him in for a cup of tea. [02:48.92]After all, he had just flown into town. [02:53.28]When I told him that I did not feel the same way, [02:57.16]he did not waste a minute. [02:59.80]He turned to my roommate, [03:01.84]handed her the flowers and asked, “What about you?” [03:07.28]Both of us shouted the same thing. [03:10.24]“Get out!” [03:13.40]So, I guess he wasn’t carrying a torch for me after all. [03:19.16]In British English, a torch is a simple flashlight. [03:23.76]But in the U.S., a torch is fire, or a flame, on a stick. [03:31.28]If you say you carry a torch for someone, [03:34.24]you mean you are carrying a flaming love for them in your heart. [03:41.80]But usually, you secretly love them from a distance. [03:46.32]And often, those strong feelings are not returned. [03:52.40]We have a special way to describe this type of heartbreak [03:57.56]– unrequited love. [04:01.24]That is an advanced way of saying unreturned love [04:06.88]-- which we don’t really say. [04:10.00]I like to describe unrequited love [04:13.68]as love traveling in one direction [04:17.00]down a dark, lonely, dead-end street, going nowhere. [04:23.24]People started using the idiom "to carry a torch for someone" [04:27.48]in the early 1900s. [04:30.80]Around the same time, “torch song” and “torch singer” [04:36.12]also became common terms. [04:39.20]Many of us have carried a torch for someone. [04:44.20]That is why torch songs became common. [04:48.84]Baby, baby, baby! [04:55.96]Baby, baby, baby! [05:01.20]Give me love, [05:07.88]Come back to me, [05:15.08]Come back to me ... [05:22.36]Torch singers sound as if they are filled with pain [05:26.24]as the unrequited flame of love burns deeply inside them. [05:32.40]Torch songs are filled with yearning -- wishing and hoping with [05:37.08]all your heart that the person you love will love you back. [05:47.20]And that is all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. [05:51.28]Until next time... I’m Anna Matteo. [05:54.60]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM