【单选题】

1So much sentimentality is attached to the rose in popular culture that it is difficult to separate the original mythological and folkloric beliefs from the emotional excess that surrounds the flower~ Yet if we look into the beliefs, we find that the rose is much more than the mere symbol of romantic love invoked by every minor poet and painter

2 One of the rose’s most common associations in folklore is with death. The Romans often decked the tombs of the dead with roses; in fact, Roman wills frequently specified that roses were to be planted on the grave. To this day, in Switzerland, cemeteries are known as rose gardens. The Saxons equated the rose with life, and they believed that when a child died, the figure of death could be seen plucking a rose outside the house.
3The rose has a long association with female beauty. Shakespeare mentions the rose more frequently than any other flower, often using it as a token of all that is lovely and gooD、For theArabs, on the other hand, the rose was a symbol not of feminine but of masculine beauty.
4 Later the rose became a sign of secrecy and silence. The expression sub rosa, "under the rose," is traced to a Roman belief.During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was common practice to carve or paint roses on the ceilings of council chambers to emphasize the intention of secrecy.
The word sentimentality in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning toA．onfusion
B．beauty
C．feeling
D．popularity