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

Veronica： Why？ Whats up？

Archie： Ive 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 dont get it.

Veronica： Hold on. Do you mean to tell me that you dont know what day today is？

Archie： Beats me. Is it a 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 Websters people decided to take the word“gullible” out of the dictionary.

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

Veronica： April Fools?。?/p>

Archie： Huh？

Veronica： You really are slow to catch on， arent you？

Archie： Whats 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 anarchy today？

Veronica： Not exactly. Though the results can be a bit anachronistic， Ill give ya that.

Archie： So？ ②Spill it. Whats all this tomfoolery about？

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

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

Veronica： Alright. No need to get fussy. There are conflicting stories as to when it originated， but the earliest connection between April 1st and foolishness can be found in Chaucers 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： Thats 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 pranks on ones neighbor is actually recognized across the globe. From the Roman festival of Hilaria to the Holi festival of India and the Medieval Feast of Fools， tricking your friends and family， and even strangers， has become a time-honored， international tradition.

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

Veronica： Or you could go around being the victim of other peoples pranks.

Archie： Ah…I see your point.

阿奇：沒(méi)錯(cuò)，這里一帶彌漫著古怪的氣氛。

維羅妮卡：為什么？發(fā)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(huà)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(shí)上，總統(tǒng)剛剛宣布將不會(huì)再有閏年了，所以在2月29日出生的任何人都無(wú)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(gè)詞從字典中刪除。

阿奇：什么？太沒(méi)道理了。為什么每個(gè)人都……

維羅妮卡：愚人節(jié)快樂(lè)！

阿奇：哈？

維羅妮卡：你真是反應(yīng)遲鈍，不是嗎？

阿奇：什么是愚人節(jié)？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(tài)蔓延嗎？

維羅妮卡：不完全是。盡管愚人節(jié)由來(lái)已久，我還是跟你說(shuō)說(shuō)。

阿奇：然后呢？快說(shuō)吧。所有這些無(wú)聊玩意是怎么來(lái)的？

維羅妮卡：無(wú)聊玩意？我想這個(gè)詞可能就是用在最初的愚人節(jié)上的。

阿奇：你能不能別開(kāi)我玩笑，還是給我解釋一下那個(gè)日子吧？

維羅妮卡：好吧，稍安勿躁。說(shuō)到它的起源有幾種相互矛盾的說(shuō)法，然而4月1日與愚弄?jiǎng)e人的行為之間的最早聯(lián)系是在喬叟1392年的著作《坎特伯雷故事集》里發(fā)現(xiàn)的。

阿奇：噢，我記得在學(xué)校看過(guò)那本書(shū)，而且我記得那本教科書(shū)大多時(shí)候是被當(dāng)作枕頭使用。

維羅妮卡：那太好了。那么，你是想要我講完這個(gè)故事？還是……

阿奇：好吧，好吧，繼續(xù)。

維羅妮卡：謝謝你。正如我剛剛說(shuō)道，盡管喬叟有提及過(guò)相關(guān)信息，但是留存一天對(duì)自己的鄰居玩一些無(wú)傷大雅的惡作劇確實(shí)成為了全球公認(rèn)的習(xí)俗。從古羅馬的嬉樂(lè)節(jié)到印度的色彩節(jié)和中世紀(jì)的愚人節(jié)，捉弄你的朋友和家人，甚至陌生人，變成了歷史悠久的國(guó)際性傳統(tǒng)。

阿奇：所以，基本上，你所說(shuō)的就是我應(yīng)該貫徹這種精神，開(kāi)始捉弄一些無(wú)辜的旁觀者。是這樣嗎？

維羅妮卡：或者你可以到處走走，成為別人惡作劇的受害者。

阿奇：啊……我明白你的意思。

Smart Sentences

① So everyone in the world has free rein to go nuts and spread anarchy today？ 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(tài)蔓延嗎？

free rein to do sth.： do whatever one pleases（隨心所欲）。例如：

Tammy thinks she has free rein to play video games as late as she wants when her parents are away.

塔米的父母不在家時(shí)，她覺(jué)得自己玩電子游戲到多晚都可以。

go nuts： go crazy， go mad（發(fā)瘋）。例如：

When the impossible goal was announced， the whole group went nuts.這個(gè)不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)一公布，整個(gè)小組都瘋了。

② Spill it. 快說(shuō)吧。

spill it： used to urge the other person to say what he/she intends to say（催促對(duì)方說(shuō)想說(shuō)的話）。例如：

—I just saw the list for the new branch office and I think it will be quite a shock for some.

我剛才看到新分部的人員名單了，我覺(jué)得有些人可能會(huì)大吃一驚的。

—Come on. Spill it. Youre killing us.

拜托，快說(shuō)，我們都快瘋掉了。

③ Will you stop ragging on me and just explain the day to me already？ 你能不能別開(kāi)我玩笑，還是給我解釋一下那個(gè)日子吧？

rag on sb.： make fun of sb.（開(kāi)某人的玩笑）。例如：

Why did you guys rag on Wendy all day？ She just made a tiny mistake.

你們?yōu)槭裁凑於寄脺氐祥_(kāi)玩笑呢？她也只犯了個(gè)小錯(cuò)。