愚人節的由來

Archie： Alright， something 1）funky is going on around here.

Veronica： Why？ What’s up？

Archie： I’ve been seeing all sorts of strange headlines in the news， and people walking around with weird drawings on their faces or paper stuck to their backs. I don’t get it.

Veronica： Hold on. Do you mean to tell me that you don’t know what day today is？

Archie： Beats me. Is it a 2）leap year？

Veronica： Actually， the president just announced that there will be no more leap years anymore， so anyone born on February 29th will no longer have a birthday to celebrate.

Archie： Really？ Why would he do that？

Veronica： And the Webster’s people decided to take the word“3）gullible” out of the dictionary.

Archie： What？ That makes no sense. Why is everyone—

Veronica： April Fools！！

Archie： Huh？

Veronica： You really are slow to catch on， aren’t you？

Archie： What’s an April Fool？ Am I one？

Veronica： For the moment， you are.

Archie： ①So everyone in the world has free rein to go nuts and spread 4）anarchy today？

Veronica： Not exactly. Though the results can be a bit 5）anachronistic， I’ll give ya that.

Archie： So？ ②Spill it. What’s all this 6）tomfoolery about？

Veronica： Tomfoolery？ I think that word was probably used on the original April Fool’s Day.

Archie： ③Will you stop ragging on me and just explain the day to me already？

Veronica： Alright. No need to get 7）fussy. There are conflicting stories as to when it originated， but the earliest connection between April 1st and foolishness can be found in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales （1392）.

Archie： Oh， I remember reading that in school. And I remember using that textbook as a pillow more often than not.

Veronica： That’s nice. So， do you want me to finish the story？ Or…

Archie： Alright， alright. Go on.

Veronica： Thank you. As I was saying， though Chaucer did mention something about it， the custom of setting aside a day to play harmless 8）pranks on one’s neighbor is actually recognized across the globe. From the Roman festival of Hilaria to the Holi festival of India and the 9）Medieval Feast of Fools， tricking your friends and family， and even strangers， has become a 10）time-honored， international tradition.

Archie： So， basically， what you’re saying is that I should get into the spirit of things， and start fooling some innocent 11）bystanders. Is that it？

Veronica： Or you could go around being the victim of other people’s pranks.

Archie： Ah…I see your point.

阿奇：沒錯，這里一帶彌漫著古怪的氣氛。

維羅妮卡：為什么？發生什么了？

阿奇：我看到新聞里各種各樣奇怪的頭條，而人們游蕩著，臉上畫著怪異的圖案或背后貼著紙條。我搞不懂。

維羅妮卡：等等。你是要告訴我你不知道今天是什么日子嗎？

阿奇：我不知道。今年是閏年嗎？維羅妮卡：事實上，總統剛剛宣布將不會再有閏年了，所以在2月29日出生的任何人都無法慶祝生日。

阿奇：真的嗎？他為什么要這樣做？

維羅妮卡：而《韋氏詞典》的編輯決定把“gullible（易受騙的）”這個詞從字典中刪除。

阿奇：什么？太沒道理了。為什么每個人都……

維羅妮卡：愚人節快樂！阿奇：哈？

維羅妮卡：你真是反應遲鈍，不是嗎？

阿奇：什么是愚人節？是我被愚到了嗎？

維羅妮卡：這一刻，是你。阿奇：那全世界的人今天都可以隨心所欲盡情瘋玩，任憑混亂狀態蔓延嗎？

維羅妮卡：不完全是。 盡管愚人節由來已久，我還是跟你說說。

阿奇：然后呢？快說吧。所有這些無聊玩意是怎么來的？

維羅妮卡：無聊玩意？我想這個詞可能就是用在最初的愚人節上的。

阿奇：你能不能別開我玩笑，還是給我解釋一下那個日子吧？

維羅妮卡：好吧，稍安勿躁。說到它的起源有幾種相互矛盾的說法，然而4月1日與愚弄別人的行為之間的最早聯系是在喬叟1392年的著作《坎特伯雷故事集》里發現的。

阿奇：噢，我記得在學校看過那本書，而且我記得那本教科書大多時候是被當作枕頭使用。

維羅妮卡：那太好了。那么，你是

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