1. 这么有趣的节日有什么来源呢?

Could you tell us about the origin of April Fool's Day?

There are a couple different stories, but it sounds like April Fools Day began in the mid-1500s in France. Before 1858, New Years actually began on Easter. So people celebrated New Years for 8 days at the end of March. But in 1564, Charles the IX of France changed the New Year to begin on January 1st (which is why we now have the Gregorian calendar). But because news traveled so slowly back then, some people did not get the news about the new dates to celebrate the New Year, so those “backward folk” were called “fools” for continuing to celebrate the New Year in April.

关于愚人节比较普遍的说法是起源于15世纪中期的法国。1858年之前,新年都是在复活节以后,人们通常是在3月底庆祝新年。但是1564年,法国国王查尔斯六世把新年的日子调整到了1月1日(即目前通用的公历)。由于当时消息传播的很慢,许多人不知道新年提前了,于是那些仍然在4月份庆祝新年的人就被称作“愚人”,这就是愚人节的由来啦。

2. 西方的愚人节有哪些虎虎不知道的传统咩?

What will people do on that day? Are there any special customs or fixed traditions?


On April Fools Day, it’s customary for news stations to play pranks on their listeners, readers and viewers. My favorite example was when the BBC played a prank on its TV news viewers in 1957 by running a newscast about the farmers in Switzerland. The news story reported that a farming pest known as the “spaghetti weevil” had been wiped out (which was true), and because of this, farmers were now able to grow spaghetti trees from which they could harvest pasta, ready to eat. British viewers actually wrote in to the station, asking how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. So the BBC issued an official reply, telling them to "place a sprig of spaghetti into a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

在愚人节,电视台通常都会捉弄一番听众和观众。我们Alison老师最喜欢的是1957年BBC玩的“小把戏”。当年,BBC告诉听众,瑞士的农民伯伯发明出了一种方法,消灭了一种名叫“意面象鼻虫”的害虫(介个是真的哦),所以,人们就可以在自家田里种意面树啦,然后啥时想吃就摘点下来。杯具的是当时的英国人民太纯真太善良了,竟然都信以为真,纷纷致信BBC,询问怎么样能够种出这种神奇的意面树涅?结果,BBC还正儿八经的给了个官方回复:“把一小段意大利面条放进番茄酱罐头里,然后祈祷吧!”虎虎只能说,BBC太有爱啦!

3. 大家最常玩哪些整人游戏?

What are the most popular tricks that are always played?

There are a few classic April Fools tricks, such as:
– setting the clock back so that people wake up several hours too early;
– cooking a weird-looking meal for the family. For example, I cooked a green meal for my brother once by adding green food coloring to all of his food!
– switching the salt and sugar shakers so that whoever uses them next gets a really sweet or salty surprise.
– changing the ‘auto-correct’ function on the computer’s word processing program so that every time a person types in a certain word or name, it is automatically changed to another one. For example, you could get on your brother’s laptop and change the settings so that every time he types in his name, it is changed to “Superman”.

Alison老师偷偷告诉虎虎好几种西方国家流行的整人方法哦,虎虎听完决定去找CC猫实践一下!^^

比如说把闹钟往后拨几个小时啦,或是恶作剧一顿搞怪的晚餐。我们美丽温柔的Alison老师也会恶作剧哦,她向虎虎交代,有次她就在她哥哥的食物全都放了绿色素,于是她哥哥就享受了一顿“绿色大餐”!

还有就是可以把家里做饭的糖罐头和盐罐头掉个个儿,那顿饭一定有意想不到的惊喜!关于这个整人方法,虎虎觉得受罪的是自己的肚子啦,自己不是也没有好东东吃了…T_T

另外还可以设置电脑里的“替换”选项,比如可以把哥哥的名字自动替换成“超人”,那他每次敲自己的名字都会显示为“超人”。(虎虎决定!明天要让CC猫敲自己名字时全都变成“宇宙无敌超级美少女”…)

4. 被整的人们会生气吗?%>_<%

How would people react to these tricks? Will they be angry or seething?

Most people usually find April Fools gags funny. But if the tricks cause them to lose time or are a huge inconvenience, people might not be very patient. Americans don’t really like to lose time.

Alison老师说,人们大多都会觉得这些恶作剧很好玩。不过如果你的恶作剧给别人造成了很大的不便,或是浪费了他们很多时间,那他们可能就会不高兴了,因为美国人可是视时间如金钱滴。

5. 关于整人,有哪些底线?

Are there any lines? It’s like if you cross the line, I won't be friends with you any more.

If the trick causes the person to lose precious time or have to change their day because of it, then yeah, I think it’s gone too far. If the trick makes someone cry, it has definitely gone too far.

I remember I played a trick on my brother one time when I was chopping vegetables and I pretended to chop my finger off (I squirted ketchup everywhere to look like blood) and my brother became hysterical, screaming and crying and running to get my mom. I got in big trouble for that one.

恶作剧也要有底线。如果你的恶作剧浪费了人家宝贵的时间、或是打乱了别人一天的计划,那Alison觉得这样的恶作剧就有点过分了。如果你的恶作剧还惹哭了别人,那绝对是超出底线了哦。对于这个Alison老师感同身受。她有次想整她哥哥,于是假装切菜时把手指头切掉了,还弄了很多番茄酱装成是流了很多血的样子,他哥哥信以为真,非常激动,大叫着叫他们妈咪…Alison老师为这个小过分的恶作剧也受到了点小惩罚。

关于愚人节,Alison老师还为大家准备了几句有关的句子,虎虎决定学习一下,做一个有知识有内涵的整人者^-^

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of the world could not succeed. -- Mark Twain

It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and leave no doubt. --Mark Twain

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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