英语课程计划-April Fool’s Day

April Fool’s Day is on the first of April every year. It is a day when people can play tricks, practical jokes and hoaxes¹ on each other. No one really knows the exact origin of this day. The writer Mark Twain famously said: “This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four days.” In some countries, you have until noon to play your jokes. If you play a trick on someone after midday, you are the April Fool. In other countries, April Fool’s Day lasts the whole day. On this day, you never know what or who to believe. Even newspapers and television stations play April Fool’s jokes on their readers and viewers. Sometimes people actually think the real news is an April Fool’s joke.

Some of the most famous April Fool’s jokes are quite amazing. My favourite happened in 1957. The BBC showed a documentary² of people in Switzerland cutting spaghetti from spaghetti trees. Lots of people contacted the BBC asking how they could grow their own spaghetti trees! Another good one was the “left-handed burger” advertised by Burger King on April 1st, 1998. They said all of the juice would drip³ out of the right hand side of the burger. Many customers asked the Burger King staff for the traditional right-handed burger. Other classic⁴ jokes include the BBC’s 1965 news of “Smell-o-vision” and Google’s 2008 invitation for people to apply to be astronauts to live on the website’s new base on Mars⁵. If you believe that, you’ll believe anything!

1 hoaxes   

n.恶作剧，戏弄( hoax的名词复数 )v.开玩笑骗某人，戏弄某人( hoax的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The disc jockey, a young separatist named Pierre Brassard, has made his name with such hoaxes. 这位名叫彼埃尔 - 布拉萨尔的音乐节目主持人，是一名年轻的分离主义者，以制造这类骗局闻名。 来自百科语句
• This chain-letter hoaxes, has mutated over the years. 这一骗局多年来在互联网上不断发展和变异。 来自互联网

2 documentary   

adj.文献的；n.纪录片

参考例句：

• This case lacked documentary proof.本案缺少书面证据。
• I watched a documentary on the Civil War.我看了一部关于内战的纪录片。

3 drip   

n.滴，点滴；水滴；乏味的人；v.滴下，漏水

参考例句：

• I hate this sort of drip.我讨厌这种无聊的闲话。
• A drip of water fell from the tap.从龙头滴下一滴水。

4 classic   

n.经典作品；adj.经典的，一流的；古典的

参考例句：

• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
• The football match was a classic.那场足球比赛堪称典范。

5 Mars   

n.火星，战争

参考例句：

• As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
• He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。