英語視頻暢談歐美人文風情88：愚人節(jié)的由來

　　April Fools Day or All Fools Day is one day of the year when you're allowed to mercilessly prank your friend, family and coworkers. How exactly did this day come about? We don't actually know for sure what started the celebration of April Fools Day. References can be found as early as 1500s, but these accounts are infrequent and not very detailed.

　　四月愚人節(jié)或是愚人節(jié)是一年之中可以無情的惡整你的朋友、家人和同事的日子。這天到底是怎么來的呢?我們不真確地知道是什么起始了四月愚人節(jié)的慶祝。文獻可追溯早至十六世紀，但這些記載很少也不是很詳細。

　　Most popular theories had begun around 1582 in France during the reformation of the calendar. Before France adopted the Gregorian calendar, they celebrated the New Years for eight days, beginning on March 25th, and ending on April 1st. When they switch calendar system, the eighth day moved from April 1st to January 1st.

　　大部分盛行的理論源自于大約西元1582年法國的歷法改革之時。在法國采用公歷之前，他們用八天慶祝新年，從三月二十五日開始，四月一日結(jié)束。當他們轉(zhuǎn)換日歷系統(tǒng)時，那第八天從四月一日挪到一月一日。

　　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. Those who did not hear about the change continued to celebrate New Years in April. Others refused to celebrate out of rebellion. Those who had been informed of the change and adjusted their calendars began to make fun of these fools who were uninformed or rebellious. This harassment evolved into a tradition of playing pranks on the first day of April, and then spread to other countries.

　　因為他們沒有網(wǎng)路、電話、社群媒體和郵務(wù)系統(tǒng)，很多人直到多年以后才知道這項改變。那些沒聽到改變的人繼續(xù)在四月慶祝新年。其他人因為反對而拒絕慶祝。那些被告知改變，且已調(diào)整他們?nèi)諝v的人開始嘲笑這些沒有被通知到或是反對的笨蛋。這樣的騷擾發(fā)展成一個在四月的第一天去惡作劇的傳統(tǒng)，然后散布到其他國家。

　　However, April Fools Day was already established in England, which didn't switch calendar system until 1752. Also people are already engaging in pranks and light-heartedness around this time of year, long before the French switch their calendar systems, such as in the case of the ancient Roman festival of Hilaria.

　　然而，四月愚人節(jié)在英國早已建立，他們直到西元1752年才改變?nèi)諝v。人們也已經(jīng)在一年中這個時間，致力于惡作劇和輕松作樂，遠早于法國人變換他們的歷法系統(tǒng)，就像是古羅馬的快活節(jié)的例子一般。

　　Modern celebrations of April Fools Day have slightly different traditions, depending on the country you are in. But they all have the similar theme of pranking or humiliating individuals. In France, they try to tape an image of fish to your back without you noticing. And in Portugal, they throw flour at you. In England, you are always supposed to pull jokes until noon, and if you pull a joke after noon, you are called an April Fool. And in the United States and Britain, even popular media outlets and companies have been known to get involved in the fun.

　　現(xiàn)代的四月愚人節(jié)的慶祝有些微不同的傳統(tǒng)，取決于你身處哪個國家。但是它們都有相似的惡作劇或是羞辱人的主題。在法國，他們試著在你背后貼上魚的圖案而不被你發(fā)現(xiàn)。而在葡萄牙，他們潑你面粉。在英格蘭，你永遠應(yīng)該在中午之前說笑話，而如果你過了中午說笑話，你就被稱為四月傻瓜。在美國和英國，甚至連受歡迎的媒體和公司行號都因參與這趣味而為人知曉。

　　In 1996, Taco Bell announced that it had purchased the Liberty Bell from the city of Philadelphia, and it was going to rename it as Taco Liberty Bell. In 1992, NPR claimed that Richard Nixon would be running again for president. British publication, theguardian, famously pranked the public in 1977, when they said that a Semicolon shaped island in the Indian Ocean had been discovered. This hoax is credited for launching the trend of April Fools Day pranks by British tabloids.

　　1996年，Taco Bell(注一)宣布他們跟費城市買下了獨立鐘，而且要把它重新命名為Taco獨立鐘。1992年，美國全國公共廣播電臺聲稱尼克森要再次參選總統(tǒng)。英國出版社，衛(wèi)報，在1977年出名的惡搞了大眾，他們說一個分號形狀的島嶼在印度洋中被發(fā)現(xiàn)。這騙局歸功于英國八卦小報的發(fā)動四月愚人節(jié)惡作劇風潮。

　　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. Now that we're at the end of this video, you might be wondering if all this information is accurate, thinking it "IS" a video about April Fools Day! YEAH! It's ACCURATE! But seriously, it's accurate. I wouldn't do that to you.

　　所以希望你現(xiàn)在知道了多一點關(guān)于四月愚人節(jié)的歷史，或至少那些我們認為是的歷史。既然我們到了影片結(jié)尾，你也許會懷疑這所有的訊息是否正確，想著“這的確是”一個關(guān)于四月愚人節(jié)的影片!耶!是正確的!但說真的，這是真的。我不會那樣對你的。