口语话题：万圣节你会出去要糖果么？

　　Halloween: Is it a beggar's trick or a harmless treat?

　　Agreeing with the inhabitants of netmums is a novelty for me but I found myself nod?ding in total accord with the mother who wrote on the site this week: “I will never let my little girl go trick or treating.

　　"It is begging and you never know who is going to open the door.

　　"You teach your child to never speak to people they don’t know the rest of the year. So why do it now?”

　　Hear hear.

　　Trick or treating is just begging under the thin disguise of a tacky Halloween costume.

　　Yes, there are parents who take their cute little tots out in spooky costumes and appreciate an organic flapjack in their treat bags.

　　But most people who open their door get a gang of spotty kids who’ve barely made an effort to dress up, and who frankly¹ can only be improved by a Frankenstein mask.

　　These little monsters scare their own parents, let alone the old folk who they threaten into giving them money.

　　Apart from being put off for life when my mum sewed the tail on my black cat’s outfit² while I was wearing it and lacerated my backside, we kids were terrified of being poisoned by the treats we were given.

　　We’d all heard the story from America about psychos putting razor blades in apples, so we would break open our booty to check for glass or metal.

　　Which is just one of the serious reasons I will never let four-year-old Jesse go trick or treating. If the saturated³ fats and sugars don’t get her first, the nutters⁴ might.

　　And as netmums said, you can’t warn kids all year round of stranger danger, and then on the one night of the year we’re supposed to avoid evil spirits, we encourage them to go round knocking on doors.

　　Come on, have we learned nothing from US horror movie Halloween?

　　It’s also rare that I agree with Haringey council on anything, but their leaflets urging trick-or-treaters to stay at home are a sound piece of advice.

　　People shouldn’t have to sit at home dreading⁶ the doorbell or that thumping⁷ knock at the door. Halloween is now just an excuse for marauding adolescents to take over the streets.

　　But if you want to jump out at each other and chuck eggs do it in your own house, not in mine. The only people benefiting from this supposed tradition are the supermarkets.

　　The sight of piles of pumpkins⁹ every October destined¹⁰ to go uneaten and rot in some landfill somewhere also fills me with ghoulish dread⁵.

　　下面这个人则很享受万圣节，认为这是一个融洽邻里关系的好机会。

　　It's a treat - Andrea McLean

　　Last year I hung a massive spider with a big fat body and googly eyes from the living room ceiling, filled a cauldron full of dry ice, put red light bulbs in the sockets¹¹ and bobbing apples on the porch.

　　There was rum punch for the dads and we had games like “wrap mummy up in toilet roll” – a three-year-old won.

　　So it’s fair to say I love Halloween.

　　Like Christmas, I see it as a chance for neighbours to come together and to speak to people you don’t often see. It’s not just about scaring people, although that’s fun too.

　　People may moan about it being foreign nonsense but for me it is a fun tradition. I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and Halloween is a huge part of my childhood.

　　When I was little your parents walked around with you and it was about learning a little trick, joke or song, to perform when you knocked on someone’s door.

　　Then you got to put your hand in the bowl of sweets.

　　The key is etiquette¹². Since living first in London and now Surrey, I’ve always followed the unwritten rule that you put something in your window or path like a candle or a carved pumpkin⁸ so everyone knows you’re happy to be part of the fun.

　　I agree it’s not nice when ?teenagers go round in Scary Movie masks and play pranks¹³.But teenagers being threatening doesn’t just happen at Halloween.

　　Even at Christmas there are always teens who turn up and shout Ding Dong Merrily On High. Just because some are intimidating¹⁴, doesn’t mean we should all stop.

　　I remember going around with my son Finlay when he was three along with other mums and their tiny tots.

　　We were all dressed up and it was brilliant for everyone involved. Finlay is now 12 and still loves Halloween.

　　He’s going through a real Shaun Of The Dead phase, so I’m sure he’ll dress up as a zombie.

　　Amy, six, loves it too. She’s grown out of last year’s witch costume so we need to run to the shops.

　　People shout about Halloween being too commercial, but as a busy parent you can run to the supermarket and be ready for the night in one swoop¹⁵.

　　Failing that, just rip up an old T-shirt and you’ve got a zombie!

　　If the police need to offer warnings and advice, so be it. People need to feel safe. But instead of dwelling¹⁶ on the negatives they should focus on the positives of Halloween.

　　I don’t think there’s an age to stop trick-or-treating. Last year we had some giggly¹⁷ teenage girls dressed as witches at the door.

　　They were having a laugh and it was harmless. That said, I’ve never had an old lady – but that would be fabulous¹⁸!

　　Trick or treating is great family fun and as long as everyone follows the right etiquette there’s no reason at all why we should let a few bad apples spoil it.

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