Birthday facts

Many centuries ago, birthdays were considered a time when the bad spirits were able to harm you. It was believed that you should have your friends and family around you【小题1】 their good wishes and present-giving would keep the bad spirits away. People also believed that, by lighting candles, they were sending a signal or wishes to the gods.

Later on, candles started 【小题2】 (use) on birthday cakes. One story about the beginnings of the birthday cake is【小题3】 it started with the Greeks, who made round cakes 【小题4】(represent) the full moon for their moon goddess . They also placed candles on the cake to make it light, again like the moon.

However, the Germans are said to have first used cakes and candles. They used a sweet cake and they put a large candle in the centre of the cake to mean “the light of life”.

The “Happy Birthday” song is more than a hundred years old. The music was written in 1893 by two sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill, 【小题5】 were schoolteachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The music was first used as a morning greeting to their students 【小题6】(entitle)“Good Morning To All”. In 1935, the words legally 【小题7】(belong)   to the Hill sisters, and the copyright has been bought and sold for millions of dollars ever since. The present copyright is owned by Warner Communications. They bought it in 1989【小题8】 more than $22 million.

‘Happy Birthday to you’ 【小题9】 (recognize) around the world and has been translated into many different languages. And children still love to make new versions of 【小题10】.