April Fools’ Day is on April 1st.

  • It is not a national holiday, so people still have to go to work and school.
  • Tradition states that on April 1st people can play practical jokes on each other. The idea is to show people up for being fools.
  • The day is celebrated in many countries, although some countries do things slightly differently; in France and Italy, for example, the idea is to place a paper fish on someone’s back, thus showing that they are a fool. In Britain (and countries that follow Britain’s holidays), the fooling is traditionally supposed to stop at midday.
  • The media like to play jokes too, with many newspapers often writing one false story that people have to try and find (and not fall for). Examples of this have been: Sports Illustrated writing in 1985 about an American baseball player who, after studying in a Tibetan monastery, could throw a baseball at 165mph, and The Guardian writing a 7-page special about holiday resorts all named after little known punctuation terms in 1977. Companies like to try to fool people too: Taco Bell once claimed it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the ‘Taco Liberty Bell’, whilst Burger King released a special whopper for left-handed people.
  • However, it is perhaps TV that has had the most successful hoax. In 1957 the BBC did a 3-minute report on Italy’s Spaghetti trees. It showed spaghetti on trees and talked about how people in Italy and Switzerland harvested spaghetti each March, and a pest – the spaghetti weevil – had nearly died out. Most people in Britain at the time did not actually know how spaghetti was made (they just bought it in a tin filled with tomato sauce) and since the report was on a trusted news programme and voiced by a respected reporter, many believed it was factual. The BBC then got hundreds of calls asking how to grow spaghetti. The reply was to take some spaghetti, plant it in tomato sauce, and hope for the best.
  • Possibly the strangest hoax was during World War 1. In 1915 a French bomber flew over German lines and looked to drop a huge bomb. The German soldiers ran for cover, but when nothing happened after the payload landed they came back to inspect. They found it was a football with a note saying ‘April Fool’.

愚人节的时间是4月1日
April Fools’ Day is on April 1st.

  • 由于它不是国定假日，所以人们照样得上班和上学。
    It is not a national holiday, so people still have to go to work and school.
  • 依照传统，愚人节当天人们可以互相搞恶作剧，目的是让人们为自己的愚蠢受到羞辱。
    Tradition states that on April 1st people can play practical jokes on each other. The idea is to show people up for being fools.
  • 许多国家都会庆祝愚人节，然而一些国家庆祝的方式有点不一样；比如，在法国和意大利，人们通常在其他人的背部贴一条纸鱼，来愚弄他们。在英国（包括那些跟英国假日一样的国家），愚弄人的行为会在中午停止。
    The day is celebrated in many countries, although some countries do things slightly differently; in France and Italy, for example, the idea is to place a paper fish on someone’s back, thus showing that they are a fool. In Britain (and countries that follow Britain’s holidays), the fooling is traditionally supposed to stop at midday.
  • 新闻媒体也喜欢在愚人节开玩笑，许多报 纸经常刊登一些假的新闻，让人们去尝试和证实（和不上当）。这里有一个例子，体育画报在1985年，报道了一个美国的棒球选手，在西藏修道院修行了以后， 掷棒球的速度达到了165英里每小时，在1997年，《卫报》专门写了篇7页的关于度假胜地报道，这些度假胜地的名字都是用不认识的符号表达的。当然一些 公司也乐意愚弄人们，塔可钟（快餐店）曾经宣称他们已经买了独立钟，并且重新把它命名为“塔可独立钟”，同时，汉堡王上市了一款针对与左撇子顾客的特殊皇 堡。
    The media like to play jokes too, with many newspapers often writing one false story that people have to try and find (and not fall for). Examples of this have been: Sports Illustrated writing in 1985 about an American baseball player who, after studying in a Tibetan monastery, could throw a baseball at 165mph, and The Guardian writing a 7-page special about holiday resorts all named after little known punctuation terms in 1977. Companies like to try to fool people too: Taco Bell once claimed it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the ‘Taco Liberty Bell’, whilst Burger King released a special whopper for left-handed people.
  • 但 是，总的来说，制造恶作剧最成功的也许是电视节目。在1957年BBC播放了一段三分钟的关于意大利面条树的报道，画面展示了长在树上的意大利面，而且讨 论了每年三月意大利和瑞士人是怎么收割意大利面的，同时一种害虫-意大利面象鼻虫-几乎已经灭绝了。在那个时候大多数英国人不知道意大利面是怎么制成的 （他们都是买罐头装的拌有番茄汁的意大利面），由于这段报道来自于值得信任的节目，而且播报员受人尊敬，很多人相信这是个真实的新闻。不久BBC接听到几 百个电话咨询如何种植意大利面。BBC回答道：把一些意大利面种在番茄汁里，然后开始祈祷。
    However, it is perhaps TV that has had the most successful hoax. In 1957 the BBC did a 3-minute report on Italy’s Spaghetti trees. It showed spaghetti on trees and talked about how people in Italy and Switzerland harvested spaghetti each March, and a pest – the spaghetti weevil – had nearly died out. Most people in Britain at the time did not actually know how spaghetti was made (they just bought it in a tin filled with tomato sauce) and since the report was on a trusted news programme and voiced by a respected reporter, many believed it was factual. The BBC then got hundreds of calls asking how to grow spaghetti. The reply was to take some spaghetti, plant it in tomato sauce, and hope for the best.
  • 最奇葩的恶作剧应该是发生在第一次世界大战时期。 1915年，一架法国飞机飞越了德国防线，然后看准时机投放了枚重型炸弹，德国士兵吓的四处跑开找掩护，但是一会后德国士兵又回来检查这枚炸弹，因为炸弹 落地后居然没有任何动静。他们发现这枚“炸弹”只是一个足球，上面有张纸条写着“愚人节”。
    Possibly the strangest hoax was during World War 1. In 1915 a French bomber flew over German lines and looked to drop a huge bomb. The German soldiers ran for cover, but when nothing happened after the payload landed they came back to inspect. They found it was a football with a note saying ‘April Fool’.