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Classic April Fool's tricks
愚人节恶作剧
The exact origin of April Fool’s Day isn’t known, but many think it began in France around 1582 with the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar, which is the most widely used calendar today. In previous calendars, New Year’s Day was between March 25 and April 1. Many people refused to change the New Year’s celebration day and were dubbed “fools”. They were sent on “fool errands，' sent invitations to nonexistent parties and had other practical jokes played on them.
4月愚人节的确切起源已不可考,不过很多人认为这个节日是起源于1582年前后的法国，即在公历被引进之后,公历就是我们到今天还在使用的历法。在早先的历法中,新年是在3月25日和4月1日之间。很多人不愿意改变新年的日子,就被叫做“愚人”会有人给这 些人发“愚人信”，发请帖请他们参加不存在的庆祝活动,他们还会成为恶作剧的对象。
The harassment evolved and spreaded to other countries, including Britain and Scotland. The American colonies likely learned the tradition from the English and the French.
这个节日很快就席卷了其他国家,包括大不列颠和苏格兰。美洲的殖民地可能是沿袭了英国和法国的传统。
Most April Fool jokes are in good film and not meant to harm anyone. The cleverest April Fool joke is the one where everyone laughs, especially the person upon whom the joke is played.
愚人节开的玩笑基本都是挺逗人的，没什么恶意。最髙明的愚人节玩笑能让在场的每个人都捧腹大笑，即使是那个被捉弄的人也会忍俊不禁。
From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees to advertisements for the left-handed burger, the tradition of April Fool’s Day stories in the media has a weird and wonderful history.
从种植意大利面的电视新闻到左撇子汉堡的广告,媒体在愚人节制造的各种稀奇古怪的恶搞新闻也有一段“光辉”历史了。
Here are several of the top ten April Fool’s Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the US web-site of Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and the number of people.
日前,美国“恶作剧博物馆”网站根据恶作剧的知名度、荒诞性及被愚弄的人数,评选出了媒体所制造的愚人节“十大经典恶搞新闻”。其中的几个如下：
Swiss spaghetti harvest tops the hoax list. In 1957，a BBC television show meed that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees prompted a barrage of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti at home.
第一大恶搞新闻是1957年愚人节的瑞士意大利面大丰收。当天,英国广播公司在一个新闻节目中报道,由于受暖冬影响,再加上危害意大利面“种植”的象鼻虫已被彻底消灭,瑞士的农民们获得意大利面大丰收。电视台还特别配上了瑞士农民从树上摘下一缕缕意大利面的镜头。节目播出后,很多人打电话去电台询问如何在家种植意大利面。
Instant color TV sets in Sweden comes as the third. Sweden in 1962 had only one television channel, which broadcast in black and white. The station’s technical expert appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to receive color pictures by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen.
第三大恶搞新闻是1962年的瑞典“瞬变彩色电视机”。当时,瑞典只有一个电视频道，而且是黑白的。愚人节那天,电视台技术人员在新闻中宣布，由于最新技术的成功开发,观众们只需将一只尼龙长统袜撑开盖在电视屏幕上就能使黑白画面立刻变成彩色。
US ex-president Nixon’s comeback is placed at sixth. In 1992, US National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won，t do it again,，They even had clips of Nixon announcing his candidacy. Listeners flooded the show with calls expressing their outrage. Nixon’s voice actually turned put to be that of an impersonator Rich Little.
美国前总统尼克松的复出被评为第六大经典假新闻。1992年,美国国家公共广播电台宣布,理查德尼克松将再度竞选总统。他的最新竞选口“是我没做错什么,我不会重蹈覆辙”。新闻中还配有尼克松宣布竞选的录音剪辑。这一消息发布之后,听众们纷纷打电话去电台表达他们的愤怒。实际上,尼克松的声音是由一位名叫里奇利特尔的演员模仿的。
In 1998，a newsletter titled New Mexicans for Science and Reason carried an article that the state of Alabama had voted to change the value of pi from 3.14159 to the "Biblical value" of 3.0.
1998年愚人节,名为《新墨西哥人科学与推理》的通讯上刊登的一篇文章中称,美国亚拉巴马州已投票决定,将圆周率值3.14159改为“圣经值”。
Burger King, an American fast-food chain, published a full-page advertisement in USA Today in 1998 announcing the introduction of the “Left-Handed Whopper”, specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new burger included ihc same ingredients as the original, but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. The chain said it received thousands of requests for the new burger, as well as orders for the original “right-handed” version.
1998年愚人节当天,美国汉堡王快餐连锁店在《今日美国》上发布了一则长达一页的广告,介绍一款专为美国3200万个“左撇子”设计的“左撇子汉堡”。该广告中称,新汉堡的配料和普通汉堡没什么区别，但其中所夹的调味品都被旋转了180度放置。连锁店称,广告登出后,他们接到数千份 订单,还收到了很多老式(“右撇子”)汉堡的订单。
Discover magazine announced in 1995 that a highly respected biologist, Aprile Pazzo (Italian for April Fool), had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. The creatures were described as having bony plates on their heads that became burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speed.
1995年愚人节,《发现》杂志公布，德高望重的生物学家Aprile Pazzo(意大利语:愚人节)在南极洲发现了一种名叫热裸体钻冰虫的新物种。据介绍,这种生物头部的骨头能变得滚烫,所以可以高速钻冰。
A noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 a.m., a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth’s gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.
1976年愚人节，英国著名天文学家帕特里克摩尔通过电台宣布,当天早上9时47分会出现一个百年一遇的天文现象:冥王星将从木星后面经过，由此而形成的引力组合将使地球的引力减弱《 摩尔告诉听众，如果他们在经过的那一时刻跳起来会有一种飘浮感。当时,数百人打电话去电台，称他们确实感到了那种“飘浮感” ?
