历史上受骗群众最多的五大愚人节玩笑

 　　Taco Liberty Bell—On April 1, 1996, Taco Bell Corporation took out an ad in six major newspapers to say that it was buying the Liberty Bell and renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of protesters called in to the National Historic Park in Philadelphia, and were only calmed when it was admitted to be a joke. 

　　收购独立大钟：1996年愚人节，Taco Bell公司在6家主流报纸上刊登广告，声称要购买美国著名的“独立大钟”并将其改名为“Taco独立大钟”。大量抗议者给费城国家历史公园打电话投诉，直到“肇事者”承认是恶作剧方才罢休。 

　　Nixon for President—On April 1, 1992, broadcast of NPR’s "Talk of the Nation" revealed that Richard Nixon was running for president again under a slogan that said, "I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again." Listeners to the show were shocked and outraged¹, but the host later revealed it was just a joke。 

　　尼克松又上台了：1992年愚人节，NPR广播台在节目中宣布理查德-尼克松将再次竞选美国总统，竞选口号是：“我没有做错任何事，也不会再做错任何事。” 听众纷纷表示十分震惊万分愤怒，不过后来主持人说这仅仅是个玩笑。 

　　Metric Time—On April 1, 1975, Australia’s "This Day Tonight" news program said that the world would be converting to metric time, with 100 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour and 20-hour days. 

　　1分钟100秒：1975年愚人节，澳大利亚的新闻节目向世界宣布时间度量机制将进行修改，改成1分钟100秒，1小时100分钟，1天20个小时。 

　　Wisconsin State Capital Collapses—On April 1, 1933, the "Madison-Capital Times" announced that the Wisconsin state capital building had been ruined by mysterious explosions that were attributed to build-ups of gas generated through verbose² debate in the Senate and Assembly chambers³. Many were fooled and angered by the trick. 

　　威斯康星州首府倒塌：1933年愚人节，曼迪迅首府时报宣布由于议会辩论太过啰嗦，生成了不明气体，威斯康星州首府大楼发生了神秘爆炸。众多受骗群众表示：这玩笑也太过分了。 

　　The Comic Strip Switcheroo—On April 1, 1997, comic strip fans opened their newspapers to find that all the characters had been shuffled⁴ around and were popping up in alternate comics. A total of 46 comic strip writers banded together for the switch, which had Scott Adams of "Dilbert" taking over the "Family Circus," and Jim Davis of "Garfield" taking over "Blondie" and making Garfield eat one of Dagwood’s sandwiches。 

　　漫画大反串：1997年愚人节，连载漫画读者们照常翻开报纸的漫画页——然后傻了眼。他们熟悉的漫画角色都跑到了别的漫画里。46名漫画作家合伙策划了这场大反串，在反串行动里加菲猫和它的主人跑到了“Blondie”中，加菲猫还吃掉了一个“那个世界”的三明治。

1 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

2 verbose   

adj.用字多的；冗长的；累赘的

参考例句：

• His writing is difficult and often verbose.他的文章很晦涩，而且往往篇幅冗长。
• Your report is too long and verbose.你的报告太长太罗嗦了。

3 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

4 shuffled   

v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。
• Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》