The Roman Emperor Claudius II was fighting many wars. He wanted a strong army, but many men did not want to be soldiers. Claudius thought the men wanted to stay at home to be with their wives and children instead of leaving to fight wars.
Claudius thought of an awful solution to his problem. He decided to cancel all marriages! No one in all of Rome could get married. Claudius thought that if the men couldn’t get married, the men would ignore the women and want to be soldiers.
Valentine, who was a priest (牧师), believed that people needed to get married. He thought it was wrong for people to live together without being married. So he secretly and illegally married couples anyway. He performed the weddings in secret places, so the Roman soldiers would not find out.
But they did find out. Valentine was arrested and brought before the Emperor. The Emperor thought Valentine was a well-spoken and wise young man, and encouraged him to stop being a Christian (基督徒) and bee a loyal Roman. Valentine would not deny his beliefs, and he refused. He was sent to prison and was finally killed. While he was in prison, he sent out letters to his friends and asked to be prayed (祈祷) for by writing Remember your Valentine.
Valentine was killed on the 14th or the 24th of February in the year 269 or 270. We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th in honor of St. Valentine.
【小题1】The Emperor Claudius II wanted men to . A．live at home and work for the empireB．bee loyal Roman citizensC．go to other countries and raise familiesD．fight wars in other lands【小题2】 The underlined word “awful” in the second paragraph probably means .A．terribleB．wonderfulC．possibleD．friendly【小题3】 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? A．Valentine believed in marriage and risked death to marry people. B．Claudius wanted to stay at home with his wife.C．Claudius thought Valentine was a man with a bright future.D．Valentine broke the law.D
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(答案→)D
解析：
【小题1】细节题：从第二段的句子：Claudius thought that if the men couldn’t get married, the men would ignore the women and want to be soldiers.可知Claudius II皇帝想要男人出去打仗。选D。
【小题2】猜词题：Claudius II皇帝的解决方法是取消婚姻，这是一个糟糕的办法。选A
【小题3】排除题：文章第三段说明A正确，文章倒数第二段的The Emperor thought Valentine was a well-spoken and wise young man, 说明C正确，文章介绍了Claudius II皇帝取消婚姻，但Valentine 却秘密的让人结婚，所以是违法了。B项是错的。