世界节假日博览 第67期:愚人节

 April Fools' Day is on the first of April every year. It is a day when people can play tricks, practical jokes and hoaxes on each other. No one really knows the exact origin of this day. The writer Mark Twain famously said: “This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four days.” In some countries, you have until noon to play your jokes. If you play a trick on someone after midday, you are the April Fool. In other countries, April Fools' Day lasts the whole day. On this day, you never know what or who to believe. Even newspapers and television stations play April Fools' jokes on their readers and viewers. Sometimes people actually think the real news is an April Fools' joke.

每年的4月1日为愚人节。在这一天里，人们可以互相欺骗，互相捉弄。没有人知道愚人节的确切起源。作家马克·吐温曾经写过一句著名的话：“这天能提醒我们想起剩下364天的样子。”在一些国家，人们中午才过愚人节。要是在午后捉弄别人，那你就是“April Fool”。在其它一些国家，愚人节活动会持续一天。你不知道这天你能相信什么，有谁可以相信。甚至连报纸和电视台都会对读者和观众开玩笑。人们有时会认为愚人节这天所播出的新闻最真实。

Some of the most famous April Fools' jokes are quite amazing. My favourite happened in 1957. The BBC showed a documentary of people in Switzerland cutting spaghetti from spaghetti trees. Lots of people contacted the BBC asking how they could grow their own spaghetti trees! Another good one was the “left-handed burger” advertised by Burger King on April 1st, 1998. They said all of the juice would drip out of the right hand side of the burger. Many customers asked the Burger King staff for the traditional right-handed burger. Other classic jokes include the BBC’s 1965 news of “Smell-o-vision” and Google’s 2008 invitation for people to apply to be astronauts to live on the website’s new base on Mars. If you believe that, you’ll believe anything!

许多愚人节笑话十分有趣。我最喜欢1975年的笑话。在BBC的一档纪录片中，瑞士人在意大利面树上切意大利面。许多人随即联系了BBC，询问他们如何种植意大利面树！另一个有趣笑话是1998年愚人节所推出的汉堡王广告“左手汉堡”。广告中称，所有肉汁都会从汉堡右手边流出来。许多顾客向工作人员询问了传统的“右手汉堡”。其它经典笑话包括BBC在1965年有关“嗅觉电影”的新闻，以及2008年谷歌发出了申请成为航天员，前往火星基地生活的邀请。如果你连这个都相信，那你就无所不信了！

1.practical joke 恶作剧

例句：In England, jokes are only played in the morning as it is considered bad luck to play a practical joke on someone after noon.

在英格兰，只有上午才能和人开玩笑，过了中午的恶作剧会被人认为是不吉利的。

2.play a trick on 恶作剧

例句：Then we'd play a trick on them, usually taking a piece of soap and make marks on their windows.

我们就捉弄他们，通常是拿一块肥皂把他们的玻璃涂得乱七八糟。

3.remind of 使回想起

例句：This mishap reminded me of a traffic accident I once experienced.

这次不幸事故使我联想起我过去经历的一次交通事故。

4.play joke on 戏弄

例句：Sometimes, they like to play jokes on others.

但有的时候他们也会戏弄别人。

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