It's the most romantic day of the year, but for many people the cards they receive on February 14 are not from a Valentine, but from themselves. One in nine love missives received on Valentine's Day were sent by people to themselves“to save face on the dreaded V-day,”according to a survey released by online retailer amazon.co.uk. Amazon, which questioned more than 1,000 people in Britain, France and Germany, also found one in three cards was received by a parent and one person in 10 admitted to stealing a card from a sibling or housemate. Amazon said Germans were the least romantic, with 69 percent saying Valentine's Day was unimportant, compared to 54 percent of Britons and 46 percent of French. Germans were also the most likely to forget to give their partners a present while the French spent the most on their loved ones. One in three French lovers splashed out between and on a gift, and 11 percent spent more than . The most common romantic gift in Britain and Germany was flowers. The French were more likely to opt for a romantic dinner.

　　2月14日是一年里最浪漫的一天，但许多人在这天收到的卡片却是来自他们自己而不是情人。根据网上零售商amazon.co.uk公布的调查，在情人节那天送达的情书中有1/9是人们为了“在恐怖的V日保全颜面”而寄给自己的。亚马逊网站询问了英国、法国和德国等地的1000多人。他们还发现收到卡的人中有1/3已经为人父母，另有1/10的人承认从兄弟姐妹或是室友那里偷取卡片。亚马逊说，德国人最不浪漫，他们中的69%认为情人节无足轻重，而在英国和法国这一比例分别是54%和46%。最容易忘记给伴侣情人节礼物的也是德国人，而法国人最舍得为爱人花钱。1/3的法国情人花了42至84美元来买礼物，还有11%的人花费超过84美元。在英国和德国最普遍的浪漫礼物是鲜花，而法国人更倾向于选择一顿浪漫晚餐。

　　Remarks：应该在2月15日设一个“独身节”以平衡孤家寡人们在“恐怖的V日”所受的创伤。