People have been passionate about roses since the beginning of time. In fact, it is said that the floors of Cleopatra's palace were carpeted with delicate rose petals, and that the wise and knowing Confucius had a 600-book library specifically on how to care for roses.

　　Notepassionate adj. 充滿熱情的　　Confucius 孔子

    The rose is a legend on its own. The story goes that during the Roman Empire, there was an incredibly beautiful maiden named Rhodanthe. Her beauty drew many zealous suitors who pursued her relentlessly. Exhausted by their pursuit, Rhodanthe was forced to take refuge from her suitors in the temple of her friend Diana. Unfortunately, Diana became jealous. And when the suitors broke down her temple gates to get near their beloved Rhodanthe, she became angry turning Rhodanthe into a rose and her suitors into thorns.

　　Notezealous adj. 熱心的　　refuge n. 避難、庇護　　beloved adj. 心愛的

    In Greek legend, the rose was created by Chloris, the Greek goddess of flowers. It was just a lifeless seed of a nymph that Chloris found one day in a clearing in the woods. She asked the help of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who gave her beauty Dionysus, the god of wine, added nectar to give her a sweet scent, and the three Graces gave her charm, brightness and joy. Then Zephyr, the West Wind, blew away the clouds so that Apollo, the sun god, could shine and made this flower bloom. And so the Rose was born and was immediately crowned the Queen of Flowers.

　　Notenymph n.（ 希臘、羅馬神話中）居于山林水澤的仙女　　clearing n. 空曠地

    The first true primary red rose seen in Europe was "Slater's Crimson China" introduced in 1792 from China, where it had been growing wild in the mountains. Immediately, rose breeders began using it to hybridize red roses for cultivation. Ever since, the quest for the perfect red rose has been the Holy Grail of rosarians: a fragrant, disease-resistant, long-lasting, long-stemmed, reblooming, perfectly formed rose with a clear non-fading vivid red color. Absolute perfection still hasn't been attained, and of course never will!

　　Notecrimson n. 深紅色　　hybridize v. 雜交　　rosarians n. 玫瑰花栽培者

    There is a special rose language invented as a secret means of communication between lovers who were not allowed to express their love for one another openly. In the mid 18th century the wife of the British ambassador in Constantinople described this in her letters, which were published after her death. These letters inspired many books on the language of flowers, each describing the secret message hidden in each flower. A red rose bud stands for budding desire, an open white rose asks "Will you love me?", an open red rose means "I'm full of love and desire", while an open yellow rose asks "Don't you love me any more?"

　　Noteambassador n. 大使　　Constantinople 君士坦丁堡中文：

　　人類有史以來就鐘情于玫瑰。據說，克婁巴特拉的宮殿的地面就鋪滿了嬌嫩的玫瑰花瓣，博學的孔子有600冊藏書專門講述如何培育玫瑰。

　　玫瑰本身就是一個傳說。在羅馬帝國時代，有一個名叫羅丹斯的美麗絕倫的少女。她的麗姿引來了無數狂熱的求婚者鍥而不舍地追求她。羅丹斯實在招架不住了，不得不到朋友狄安娜的神廟里躲避她的求婚者。不幸的是，狄安娜產生了嫉妒之心。當求婚者沖進了神廟的大門，要接近他們所愛戀著的羅丹斯時，狄安娜一怒之下將羅丹斯變成了一枝玫瑰花，將她的求婚者變成了花刺。

　　在希臘傳說中，玫瑰是希臘花神克羅斯創造的。當初玫瑰只是林中一個仙女的尚無生命的一粒種子。一天，花神克羅斯偶然在森林的一塊空地上發現了它。克羅斯請求愛神阿佛洛狄特賦予了它美麗的容貌；讓酒神狄俄尼索斯澆灑了神酒，使它擁有了芬芳的氣味。又有美惠三女神將魅力、聰穎和歡樂賜予了它。隨后，西風之神吹散了云朵，太陽神阿波羅得以照耀它并使它開花。玫瑰就這樣誕生了，并立即被封為花中之皇后。

　　歐洲見到的第一枝真正的原色紅玫瑰叫做“斯萊特中國深紅”，于1792年從中國引進。當時，它一直生長在中國山區的野地里。玫瑰培育者馬上開始用它進行雜交種植。從此，尋求完美的紅玫瑰一直是玫瑰栽培者所追求的理想。這種玫瑰應具有芳香的氣味、抵御疾病的能力、持久的花期、修長的花莖、反復開花的本領、優美的體態以及不褪色的純鮮紅顏色。然而，絕對的完美卻始終未達到，當然也永遠無法達到！

　　人們發明了一種特殊的玫瑰語言，作為不被允許公開示愛的情侶間秘密交流的方式。18世紀中期，英國駐君士坦丁堡大使的夫人在信中對此做了描述。這些信件在她死后出版，激發了許許多多關于花草語言書籍的問世，每一本書都對每種花所隱藏的信息進行了描述。一朵紅玫瑰花蕾代表萌發中的情欲；一枝盛開的白玫瑰則是在探問：“你會愛我嗎？”一枝綻開的紅玫瑰的含義是：“我對你滿懷著愛意和渴望”，而一枝開放的黃玫瑰則是在詢問：“你是不是不再愛我了？”

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