摘要：愚人節的英語是April Fools’ Day，也叫做All Fools’ Day。有些人相信愚人節是為了慶祝季節變更，有些人則相信這是因為年歷的變更才形成的節日。
 

　　April Fool's Day is traditionally a day to play practical jokes on others, send people on fool's errands, and fool the unsuspecting. No one knows how this holiday began but it was thought to have originated in France.

　　傳統上來講，愚人節這一天，人們可以相互搞惡作劇，騙人跑腿，欺騙不知情的人。沒人知道這個節日是怎么來的，但人們普遍認為它源自法國。

　　The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. New Year's was celebrated on March 25 and celebrations lasted until April 1st. When New Year's Day as changed from March 25 to January 1st in the mid-1560's by King Charles IX, there were some people who still celebrated it on April 1st and those people were called April Fools.

　　慶祝愚人節最早是在1582年，在法國。那時，當時法國新年是在3月25日，一直持續到4月1日。16世紀60年代中期，國王查理九世把新年從3月25日變為1月1日，而還有一些人在4月1日過新年，這些人就被稱作四月傻瓜了。

　　Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as saying, "Your shoe's untied!)， to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm clock back an hour is a common gag. The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim, "April Fool!"

　　愚人節那天的惡作劇有的很簡單(比如，說句“你鞋帶開了!”)，有的卻是精心設計的。把室友的鬧鐘往后調一小時是常見的。甚至新聞媒體都來湊熱鬧。比如，在愚人節那天，曾經有一部英國短片較為詳細地記錄了“種意大利面的農民”，以及他們如何從意大利面樹上收獲意大利面。不管是什么惡作劇，搞惡作劇的人通常在最后會對被搞的人喊一句："四月傻瓜!"