April Fools'Day愚人节

编者注:

愚人节(April Fools’ Day)全称“四月愚人节”,又称万愚节,是西方一些国家的风俗和民间传统节日,时间在每年4月1日。愚人节这天人们可以采取任何方式(如制造耸人听闻的消息等)互开玩笑,哄骗愚弄他人,以换得乐趣。人们对这种恶作剧并不负任何道德和法律上的责任,政府司法部门亦不会追究责任。不仅如此,而且谁编造的谎言离奇、最能骗人谁就会荣誉“桂冠”。然而,你知道这个节日的来历吗?请看下文。

The first of April is commonly known as April Fools’ Day and it is customarily1 on this day to play a trick on a friend. You can do this by making your friend believe something that isn’t true, or by sending him on a fruitless errand2. If your friend falls into the trap3, then he or she is an April Fool.

“Elizabeth, the headmaster wants to see you,” said one of Elizabeth’s classmates on April 1.

“All right,” she said and ran into school. She walked all the way around the school and finally found the headmaster. The headmaster told her that he didn’t want her.

When Elizabeth came back, everyone around laughed and shouted, “April Fool!” Elizabeth laughed too, but she felt so ashamed for having been made a fool of. However, she secretly felt relieved4 that nothing disastrous5 had really happened. A few minutes later, she was busy thinking of a way to fool his friend.

It isn’t only children that like such jokes. Grown-ups like such jokes, too.

On April 1, a country bus was going along a winding road when it slowed down and stopped. The driver anxiously turned switches and pressed buttons, but nothing happened. Then he turned to the passengers with a worried look on his face and said, “This poor bus is getting old. It isn’t going as well as it used to. There’s only one thing to do if we want to get home today. I shall count three, and on the word THREE, I want you all to lean forward suddenly as hard as you can. That will probably get the bus started again. But if it doesn’t, I am afraid there is nothing else I can do. Now, all of you lean back as far as you can in your seats and get ready.”

The passengers all obediently6 pressed back against their seats and waited anxiously.

Then the driver turned to his front and asked, “Are you ready?”

The passengers hardly had enough breath to answer, “Yes”.

“One!Two!Three!” counted the driver. The passengers all swung7 forward suddenly and the bus started up at once.

The passengers breathed more easily and began to smile with relief. But their smiles turned to surprised and then delighted laughter when the driver merrily cried, “April Fool!”

Even the media occasionally try to fool the public with a clever April Fool story. Some years ago, for example, a famous joke was played on the radio. A scientific correspondent8 reported that strange geological9 changes had resulted in weaker gravity10 in different parts of Britain. He asked listeners to jump up and down and see if they could jump higher than they normally could. Many people did. The hundreds of calls the BBC received proved how successful the trick was. Not until twelve o’clock did the BBC gently remind its listeners it was April Fools’ Day that day.

Making jokes only lasts until the noon of the day. The rule is rigid11 and everywhere acknowledged. Anyone who tries to make a fool after midday is a bigger fool than he who has been fooled. The late trickster is instantly rebuffed12, as a piece of poem goes:

April Fool’s gone and past.

You’re the biggest fool at last.

When April Fools’ Day comes again,

You’ll be the biggest fool then.

When did this custom start?

According to a well-researched story of the origin of the day, it was started in 1545 by a rather unfortunate accident. A Norwegian scientist, Loof Lirpa, was staying in London, where he was trying to find the secret of how to fly.

The scientist was eccentric13, but there was no doubt that he was clever. It seems that his experiments were successful: King Henry VIII14 received a letter from Mr. Lirpa, in which he announced that he had finally solved the secret of flight. He asked the king to be present at a demonstration15 flight at Westminster on April 1.

So the king and the leading politicians of the day stood outside the Palace of Westminster16 on April 1, and waited for Mr. Lirpa to come flying past. But nothing happened―and it became the tradition afterwards to play tricks on people in the same way on this day.

However, evidence proved later that Loof Lirpa was not playing a trick: he was in fact telling the truth. He had learnt how to fly―the reason that he didn’t appear at Westminster was that his flying-machine had crashed17 into a tree, and he had been killed.

It was a tragedy for science. Most people believe that the first airplane flew in 1903, but this is not true. It flew 358 years earlier in 1545. If Mr. Lirpa had lived, our technology would now be much more advanced than it is.

The scientist, unfortunately, was very secretive; he hadn’t kept any notes, and he hadn’t trusted anyone else with the knowledge of how his flying-machine worked. When he died, the secret died with him.

Although most people in Britain haven’t heard of Loof Lirpa, he is very famous in Norway.

April 1 is a national holiday, and people remember his flying trip by having ski-jump18 competitions. They also eat a special Loof Lirpa cake, which was invented by the scientist, and consists of fish, banana, honey and chocolate.

Actually, “Loof Lirpa” wasn’t his real name: if you say the two words backwards, you’ll find out what his name really was―April Fool.

1. customarily adv. 照例;通常;习惯上

2. errand n. 差使;差事;跑腿

3. trap n. 圈套;陷阱

4. relieve v. 救济;减轻;解除

5. disastrous adj. 灾难性的;极糟的

6. obediently adv. 顺从地;服从地

7. swing v. 摇摆;旋转

8. correspondent n. 通讯记者

9. geological adj. 地质学的

10. gravity n. 重力

11. rigid adj. 严格的;固执的;僵硬的;刻板的

12. rebuff v. 严厉拒绝;冷落

13. eccentric adj. 古怪的;反常的

14. King Henry VIII 亨利八世国王

15. demonstration n. 示范

16. the Palace of Westminster 威斯敏斯特宫

17. crash v. 撞击;坠毁

18. ski-jump 飞行滑雪