经典英语美文 （78）愚人节
While popular in the U.S., the April Fool’s Day tradition is even more prevalent in European countries,such as France and Great Britain. Although the roots of the traditional trickings are unclear,the French andthe British both have claims on the origin of the celebration.
One theory holds that the first April Fool’s Day was on April 1 of the year when King of France instituted the new calendar.This new system placed the day that had formerly been the first day of a new year on April 1.Many people were reluctant to adjust to the new calandar and continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on what had become the first day of April.Thus, they become the first April fools.Others began to give gaggifts on the day to mock the foolishness of thosewho continued to celebrate the new year on April 1.
An English story about the day, however, holds that it began sometime during the 1200s.At the time, King John of England was in the habit of making a road out of nearly every path he walked regularly.The citizensof one particular farm village were aware of this.To avoid having their green meadows and pastures disturbed with one of the king’s roads,they built a fence that prevented the king from walking through their countryside.The king sent a group of messengers to inform the villagers that they must remove the barrier.Upon hearing that the king was planning to do this, however, the villagers developed a plan of their own.Whenthe messengers arrived, they found what appeared to be a community of lunatics,with people behaving in a bizarre manner, throwing things and running around wildly.The messengers, alarmed at what they had found, reported to king John that these people were so mad as to be beyond punishment.So, the villagers saved their farmland by tricking the King. In Great Britain,tradition only allows April Fool’s tricks from midnightto noon on April 1. Those who try to play tricks in the afternoon become the fools themselves.
愚人节的习俗在美国是很流行的,在欧洲国家如法国和英国就更是如此了。虽然这种愚弄人习俗的起源不甚清楚，但是法国人和英国人却都宣称这种庆祝活动是由他们开始的。
有一种说法认为，第一个愚人节始于法国国王设立新历法那一年的4月1曰。这种新历法将以前新的一年的第一天定在4月1曰。很多人都不愿意按照新的历法行亊，还继续在根据新的历法已经是4月的第一天庆祝新年，于是他们就成了第一批愚人。另有一些人开始在这一天送戏弄人的礼物来取笑那些继续在4月1曰庆祝新年的人。
然而关于愚人节这一天，英国的一则故亊却认为它始于13世纪的某一天。那时，英格兰的约翰国王习惯于将他经常走的几乎每条小道都修成一条路。有一个乡村的居民觉察到了这一点。为了保护他们绿油油的草地和牧场免受国王修路所造成的破坏，他们筑了一道篱笆来阻挡国王在他们的乡间穿行。国王派遗了一队使者去通报村民们必须撤掉障碍。在听到国王正要打算这么做时，村民们也想出了自己的办法。当使者到达的时候，他们看到这里的人像一群疯子似的，举止古怪，乱扔东西，并且四下疯跑。此情此景令使者们惊恐万分，后来赶紧向约翰国王报告说，这些人疯疯癱癲的，根本没办法处置。村民们就这样骗过了国王，保护了自己的农田。在英国，按习俗在4月1曰这—天只允许从子夜到中午的这段时间搞恶作剧，到下午还这么做的人自己就成了愚人了。