English Exercises: St. Valentine´s Story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in

during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an

named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my

Claudius wanted to have a big

. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius

. So what happened? He had a

idea. He thought that if men were not

, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was

. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a

? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small

lit room with only the

and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear

. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in

and told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay

. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw

and

up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in

2. Choose the most appropiate option to complete the text.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison . Her father allowed her to visit me in the . Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I , February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

4. Write the correct forms of the infinitive, past and past participle of the following verbs.

St. Valentine´s Story

St. Valentine's Story

1. Write the following words in the blanks to complete the text.

2. Choose the most appropiate option to complete the text.