Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternative.
Click on the options to check whether it is right or wrong.
Most authorities agree that St. Valentine is “the lover’s saint”.
However, some writers are inclined to believe that no such person existed, though there appears to be proof that he was a Christian Bishop and that he suffered martyrdom under the Roman Emperor Claudius on February 14,271(A.D.).
The story is that Emperor Claudius issued a decree forbidding marriage. Married men disliked leaving their families to go to war and they did not make good soldiers, according to the Emperor’s notion. Since good soldiers were needed, he decided that marriage had to be abolished.
The good priest Valentine heard this and was sad. He invited young lovers to come to him and secretly got them married. The emperor learnt of this and had Valentine put in prison. There the “friend of lovers” languished and died martyr to love. The Church made him a Saint and allotted the day of his death February 14, to him. So it is not surprising that youngsters in Rome made this day a special one in honour of the Saint; St. Valentine’s Day came to be known as “the day for all true lovers.”
Three Egyptian words will tell us more about the customs of Valentine’s Day than all the falsehoods concerning the Saint. In Egyptian language, Va or Fa means “to bear”, Len is “the name” or “to name”. Ten means “to determine”. Thus the day or Valentine is that which determines whose name shall be borne by each person in this mode of marriage by drawing lots. The custom points to the time when chance, rather than choice, was the law. Marriage is still said to be a lottery. The custom of sending caricatures on Valentine’s Day is probably based on asserting the freedom of choice, and making a mock of chance.
If one decided to entertain people at a supper or dinner on Valentine’s Day, the decoration and even the food should follow the spirit of the day. Invitations are usually heart shaped a custom that originated with the first manufactured Valentines which were usually in the shape of heart darted through with arrows.
1. The writer means that St. Valentine actually lived. Which of the following statements best reveal the meaning?
- Most authorities agree that St. Valentine was known as “the lover’s saint.”
- Valentine was put in prison and he died a martyr to love.
- There appears to be proof that he was a Christian Bishop in the 3rd century
- Some writers are inclined to believe that no such person existed
2. Married men did not make good soldiers because
- They did not want to leave their families.
- They did not like to go to war.
- Their families did not want them to go to war.
- The emperor abolished their marriage
3. Valentine was made a Saint by
- Emperor Claudius
- Married men
- Young Lovers
- Roman Church
4. Valentine was called a martyr to love because
- he was sad for the young lovers
- he got the young lovers married
- he died for the sake of young lovers
- the King put him in prison
5. The first manufactured Valentines were usually heart shaped. The word ‘Valentine’ here refers to
- St. Valentine
- Invitation cards
- Egyptian word
- Fourteenth February
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