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April Fools Day, or All Fools Day, is the one day of the year when you're allowed to mercilessly prank your friends, family and coworkers.
愚人节是一年中你可以无情地捉弄你的朋友、家人和同事的一天。
How exactly did this day come about?
那么这一天的来历到底是什么样的呢？
We don't actually know for sure what started the celebration of April Fools Day.
我们并不是很清楚是怎么就开始庆祝愚人节的。
References can be found as early as the 1500s, but these accounts are infrequent and not very detailed.
早在16世纪，就有相关的参考文献出现，但记载很少，也不是很详细。
Most popular theories that it began around 1580 in France, during the Reformation of the calendar.
而传播最广的说法是，愚人节始于1580年左右历法改革期间的法国。
Before France adopted the Gregorian calendar, they celebrated New Years for eight days, beginning on March 25 and ending on April 1.
在法国采用公历之前，他们会有8天的时间来庆祝新年，从3月25日开始，到4月1日结束。
When they switched calendar systems, the eighth day moved from April 1 to January 1.
当他们更换日历系统后，第八天（也就是4月1日）结束新年的庆祝，变成了从1月1日开始庆祝新年。
Because they didn't have internet, phones, social media and a mail system, a lot of people didn't hear about this change until years later.
因为他们没有互联网、电话、社交媒体和邮件系统，所以很多人直到多年后才听说了这个变化。
Those that did not hear about the change continued to celebrate New Years in April.
那些没有听说这个变化的人，就继续在四月庆祝新年。
Others refused to celebrate it out of rebellion.
另一些人出于叛逆也拒绝在1月1日庆祝新年。
Those who had been informed of the change and adjusted their calendars, begin to make fun of these fools who are uninformed or rebellious.
而那些被告知进行了变化、并调整了日历的人，就开始取笑那些未被通知或叛逆的家伙。
This harassment evolved into a tradition of playing pranks on the first day of April, and then spread to other countries.
这种骚扰逐渐演变成在4月1日恶作剧的传统，然后传播到其他国家。
However, April Fools Day was already established in England, which didn't switch calendar systems until 1752.
不过在1752年英格兰更换日历系统之前，愚人节就已经存在了。
Also, people were already engaging in pranks and light-heartedness around this time of the year,
当时，在每年的这个时候，人们就已经开始搞一些恶作剧、做一些有趣的事情了，
long before the French switched their calendar systems, such as in the case of the ancient Roman festival of Hilaria.
这个时间点要远远早于法国转换日历系统，前身很有可能是古罗马的希拉里亚节。
Modern celebrations of April Fools Day have slightly different traditions depending on the country you are in.
愚人节的现代庆祝活动，会根据你所在的国家而略有不同。
But they all has the similar theme of pranking or humiliating individuals.
但它们都有一个相似的主题，即恶作剧或戏弄别人。
In France, they try to tape an image of a fish to your back without you noticing.
在法国，他们会在你没留意的情况下把鱼的图像贴在你的背上。
And in Portugal, they throw flour at you.
在葡萄牙，他们会朝你撒面粉。
And in England, you are only supposed to put jokes until noon and if you pull a joke after noon, you are called an April fool.
在英格兰，你只能在中午之前讲笑话，如果你在中午之后讲笑话，你就被称为“四月傻瓜”。
And in the United States and Britain, even popular media outlets and companies have been known to get involved in the fun.
在美国和英国，甚至大众媒体和公司也会参与其中。
In 1996, Taco Bell announced that it had purchased the Liberty Bell from the City of Philadelphia and was going to rename it The Taco Liberty Bell.
1996年的愚人节，塔可钟快餐公司宣布，买下了费城的大钟，并打算将其改名为塔可自由钟。
In 1992, NPR claimed that Richard Nixon would be running again for President.
而在1992年的愚人节，NPR宣称理查德·尼克松将再次竞选总统。
British publication, The Guardian, famously pranked the public in 1977, when they said that a semi-colon shaped island in the Indian Ocean had been discovered.
1977年，英国媒体《卫报》曾搞了一个著名的恶作剧，他们宣称在印度洋发现了一个分号形状的岛屿。
This hoax is credited for launching the trend of April Fools Day pranks by British tabloids.
这个恶作剧也被认为是英国小报在愚人节搞恶作剧的开端。
So hopefully you now know a little more about the history of April Fools Day or at least what we think the history of it is.
好了，希望你现在对愚人节的历史（或者至少是我们认为的它的历史）有了更多的了解。
