社会杂谈：媒体制造愚人节“十大经典恶作剧新闻”.

　　From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees to advertisements for the lit-handed burger, the tradition of April Fools’Day stories in the media has a weird and wonderful history.

　　从电视新闻揭示“意大利面长在树上”，到“左撇子汉堡包”的广告，媒体在愚人节制造各种恶作剧新闻的这项传统有一段传奇而精彩的历史。

　　Here are several of the top ten April Fools’Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the US website of Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and number of people duped.

　　美国的“恶作剧博物馆”网站根据恶作剧的知名度、荒诞性和被愚弄的人数，评选出了媒体所制造的愚人节“十大经典恶作剧新闻”。下面是其中的几个:

　　Swiss spaghetti harvest tops the hoax list. In 1957, a BBC television show announced that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees prompted a barrage of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti at home.

　　排名恶作剧新闻第一位的是:意大利面大丰收。1957年的愚人节这天，英国广播公司在一档新闻节目中报道，由于受暖冬影响，以及危害意大利面“生长”的象鼻虫被彻底消灭，瑞士的农民获得了意大利面的大丰收。新闻中还特别播出了瑞士农民从树上摘下一缕缕意大利面条的镜头。节目播出后，电视台接到了不计其数的观众打来的电话，都想知道如何在家中种植意大利面。

　　Instant color TV sets in Sweden comes as the third. Sweden in 1962 had only one television channel, which broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to receive color pictures by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen.

　　排名第三位的恶作剧新闻是瑞典的“瞬间变彩色电视机”。瑞典在1962年时只有一个电视频道，而且电视机是黑白的。愚人节那天，电视台的技术人员在新闻中宣布，由于开发成功了一种新技术，观众们只需将一只尼龙长袜神开盖在电视屏幕上，就能使黑白电视立刻接收到彩色画面。

　　US ex-president Nixon’s comeback is placed at sixth. In 1992, US National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again."They even had clips of Nixon announcing his candidacy. Listeners flooded the show with calls expressing their outrage. Nixon’s voice actually turned out to be that of impersonator Rich Little.

　　排名第六位的是美国前总统尼克松的复出。1992年，美国国家公共广播电台宣布，理查德·尼克松将再次竞选总统。他的新竞选口号是:“我没有做错任何事，我不会重蹈覆辙。”电台还播放了一段尼克松宣布参加竞选的录音剪辑。结果，听众们表达愤怒之清的电话犹如洪水泛滥般地淹没了电台。实际上，尼克松的声音是由一位名叫里奇·利特尔的演员模仿的。

　　In 1998, a newsletter titled New Mexicans for Science and Reason carried an article that the state of Alabama had voted to change the value of pi from 3.14159 to the "Biblical value" of 3.0.

　　1998年的愚人节，一份名为《新墨西哥人科学与推理》的时事通讯报上刊登了一篇文章，这篇文章中说美国阿拉巴马州已经投票决定将圆周率值由3. 14159改为“圣经值”3.0。

　　Burger King, an American fast-food chain, published a full-page advertisement in USA Today in 1998 announcing the introduction of the "Lt-Handed Whopper,”specially designed for the 32 million lt-handed Americans.According to the advertisement, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original, but the condiments were rotated 18p degrees. The chain said it received thousands of requests for the new burger, as well as orders for the original "right-handed" version.

　　还是在1998年愚人节这天，美国的汉堡王快餐连锁店在《今日美国》报上刊登了一个整版广告，介绍一款特别为全美国3200万个“左撇子”设计的“左撇子巨无霸汉堡”。根据广告内容，这款新汉堡的配料与普通汉堡是相同的，但调味品被旋转了角度放置。连锁店表示，广告登出后，他们接到了数千份这款新汉堡的订单，同时还接到了很多正常的“右撇子”汉堡的订单。

　　Discover Magazine announced in 1995 that a highly respected biologist,Aprile Pazzo (Italian for April Fool), had discovered a new species in Antarctica:the hotheaded naked ice borer. The creatures were described as having bony plates on their heads that became burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speed.

　　1995年的愚人节，《发现》杂志宣布，一位名叫Aprile Pazzc}(愚人节的意大利语)且德高望重的生物学家在南极洲发现了一个新物种:热头无壳钻冰虫。据介绍，这种生物的头骨能变得异常灼热，使它们能够高速钻过冰层。

　　Noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth’s gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation.Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.

　　1976年的愚人节，英国著名天文学家帕特里克·摩尔在广播中宣布，在当天上午9时47分，会出现百年一遇的天文现象—冥王星将会从木星后面经过，从而产生一种能使地球引力减弱的重力组合。摩尔对听众说，如果他们在行星交错的那一时刻跳起来的话，就会有一种飘浮的感觉。当时，有数百人打电话到电台，说他们确实体验到了那种“飘浮感”。