April Fools Day / 愚人节

April Fool’s Day is a special day in the UK

愚人节在英国是一个特殊的日子。

 

It is celebrated every year on the 1st. April.

每年的 4 月 1 日庆祝。

 

It is a day when British people play pranks on each other.

在这一天，英国人会互相恶作剧。

 

In England, you are only allowed to play these pranks in the morning.

在英国，你只能在早上玩这些恶作剧。

 

In Scotland, however, April Fool’s Day actually lasts 2 whole days.

然而，在苏格兰，愚人节实际上持续了整整 2 天。

 

Nowadays, it is not only the British that celebrate April Fool’s Day.

如今，庆祝愚人节的不仅仅是英国人。

 

Many other countries also celebrate April Fools Day.

许多其他国家也庆祝愚人节。

 

This special day goes back to ancient times.

这个特殊的日子可以追溯到远古时代。

 

In the U.K., the first written record of April Fool’s Day is mention in the 14th century.

在英国，愚人节的第一个书面记录是在 14 世纪被提及的。

 

Typical pranks include misleading signs, replacing food ingredients with something unexpected e.g. cream replaced by toothpaste, and placing scary objects where people will find them.

典型的恶作剧包括误导性标志、用意想不到的东西代替食物成分，例如用牙膏代替奶油，以及将可怕的物品放在人们会发现的地方。

 

In modern times, the pranks have become much more diverse.

在现代，恶作剧变得更加多样化。

 

The most famous prank in the U.K. was perpetrated by the BBC in 1957.

英国最著名的恶作剧是 BBC 于 1957 年犯下的。

 

At this time, very few British people had eaten noodles or knew how noodles were made.

当时，寥寥英国人吃过面条，也寥寥有人知道面条是怎么做的。

 

The BBC broadcast a TV programme which claimed to show the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland.

BBC（英国广播公司）播放了一个电视节目，声称展示了瑞士的意大利面收成。

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People watched as they saw farmers cutting spaghetti from trees using scissors.

人们看着农民用剪刀从树上剪意大利面。

 

In fact, what people were seeing was cooked spaghetti which had been draped over tree branches.

事实上，人们看到的是披在树枝上的煮熟的意大利面。

 

Nevertheless, hundreds of British people telephoned the BBC asking where they could buy a spaghetti tree.

但，还是有数百名英国人打电话给 BBC，询问他们在哪里可以买到意大利面树。

 

Only later was it revealed to be a hoax.

直到后来才发现这是一个骗局。

 

Another famous April Fools Day prank broadcast by the BBC showed men collecting people’s ‘unused’ water from their dripping taps to return it to reservoir.

BBC 播出的另一个著名的愚人节恶作剧显示，人们从滴水的水龙头中收集人们“未使用”的水，然后将其送回水库。

BBC bōchū de lìng yí gè zhùmíng de Yúrén Jié èzuòjù xiǎnshì ， rénmen cóng dīshuǐ de shuǐlóngtóu zhōng shōují rénmen “wèi shǐyòng” de shuǐ， ránhòu jiāng qí song huí shuǐkù。

 

Unfortunately, sometimes real events that occur on the 1st April are thought to be a prank.

不幸的是，有时发生在 4 月 1 日的真实事件被认为是恶作剧。

Búxìng de shì ， yǒushí fā sheng zài 4 yuè 1 rì de zhēnshí shìjiàn bèi rèn wéi shì èzuòjù。

 

 

 

For example, some people initially thought that the news of a tsunami  which killed 165 people in Alaska and Hawaii in 1946 was a hoax.

例如，有些人最初认为 1946 年在阿拉斯加和夏威夷造成 165 人死亡的海啸新闻是一个骗局。