聰軎膥賳过
APRIL FOOL’S DAY
When did this custom start? According to a well-researched story of the origin of the day, it was started in 1545 by a rather unfortunate accident. A Norwegian scientist, Loof Lirpa, was staying in London, where he was trying to find the secret of how to fly.
The scientist was eccentric, but there was no doubt that he was clever. It seems that his experiments were successful: King Henry VIII received a letter from Mr Lirpa, in which he announced that he had finally solved the secret of flight. He asked the king to be present at a demonstration flight at Westminster on April 1.
So the king and the leading politicians of the day stood outside the Palace of Westminster on April 1 and waited for Mr Lirpa to come flying past. But nothing happened and it became the tradition afterwards to play tricks on people in the same way on this day.
Recent evidence, however, shows that Loof Lirpa was not playing a trick: he was in fact telling the truth. He had learnt how to fly, the reason that he didn’t appear at Westminster was that his flying-machine had crashed into a tree, and he had been killed.
It was a tragedy for science. Most people believe that the first airplane flew in 1903, but this is not true. It flew 358 years earlier in 1545. If Mr Lirpa had lived, our technology would now be much more advanced than it is.
The scientist, unfortunately, was very secretive: he hadn’t kept any notes, and hadn’t trusted anyone else with the knowledge of how his flying-machine worked. When he died, the secret died with him.
Although most people in Britain haven’t heared of Lirpal, he is very famous in Norway. April 1 is a national holiday, and people remember his flying trip by having ski-jump competitions. They also eat a special Loof Lirpa cake, which was invented by the scientist, and consists of fish, bananas, honey and chocolate.
Actually, “Loof Lirpa” wasn’t his real name: if you say the two words backwards, you’ll find out what his name really was—April Fool.
－愚人节
愚人节的风俗源于何时呢？据一个多方考证其起源的故事说，此风俗起源于1545年，是由一个不幸的事故引起的。一位叫卢夫•勒尔帕的挪威科学家当时住在英国的伦敦，想在那里找到飞行的秘密。
这位科学家性格古怪，但无疑他是很聪明的。他的飞行试验似乎取得了成功，因为国王亨利八世收到了勒尔帕先生的信。信中说，他已找到了飞行的秘密，请国王于4月1日在威斯敏斯特宫看他的飞行表演。
因此，在4月1日那一天，国王和当时的政要站到宫外，等待勒尔帕先生飞过。但是，勒尔帕没能从宫外飞过。据此，衍化出了这一天设骗局的传统。
这是科学史上的一个悲剧。大多数人认为第一次飞机飞行是在1903年，但事实并非如此。在此358年前的1545年，已有飞行器在空中飞行了。如果勒尔帕先生没有丧生，我们今天的科学技术就先进得多了。
然而，最近证实，卢夫•勒尔帕并没有设骗局，实际上他说的是实话。他确已学会飞行，但没有出现在威斯敏斯特宫上空的原因是他的飞行器撞到了一棵树上，他本人也丧生了。 遗憾的是，这位科学家保密太严了。他既没留下任何文字资料，也没把飞行器的知识传授给别人，对谁也信不过。他死了，他保守的秘密也消失了。
虽然大多数英国人没听说过卢夫•勒尔帕，但他在挪威很有名。4月1 日在挪威是个全国性的节日。人们用跳台滑雪比赛来纪念勒尔帕的那次飞行。挪威人还吃一种特殊风味的卢夫•勒尔帕蛋糕，由鱼、香蕉、蜂蜜和巧克力制成。这种蛋糕正式这位科学家发明的。
实际上，Loof Lirpa (卢夫•勒尔帕)并非他的真姓名。如果你倒过来念他的姓名，就会发现他的真名是April Fool（四月的傻瓜）.
米拉妹妹12
愚人节起源
愚人节起源来历有颇多中传说故事，一种说法是：愚人节是为了纪念耶稣受难的日子，而另一种说法是，愚人节起源法国，18世纪初愚人节习俗传到英国，接着又被英国的早期移民带到了美国。现今每年的4月1日是西方也是美国的民间传统节日。
愚人节起源一：相传距人类始祖亚当之后约一千六百五十年间，上帝以洪水来毁灭世界，但仅留下亚当的第三个儿子慧德的后代诺亚，他以一条人造的大船保全了一家大小的生命。洪水稍退之后，诺亚便放出一只白鸽，想探求一块洪水消退之后的陆地，因为这一天正好是四月一日。所以后人认为，在这一天去做一种毫无意义的事，就好像一只白鸽做了白工一样，行为愚蠢，为愚人节起源。
愚人节起源二：据古罗马残籍记载：罗马在每年四月初举行“蔓姜会”，某年“蔓姜会”，主宰之神雪丽丝之女白洛赛苹娜在极乐园采摘水仙花时，遇见冥府王菩拉多，两人一见钟情，互相示爱，菩拉多便娶白洛赛苹娜为冥府王后，当他们两个返回地府时，菩拉多乃差使地府中之鬼怪发出吃吃之笑声，以愚弄雪丽丝，而雪丽丝果被愚弄，她乃循着声音的来源寻觅。因此，他们便以每年之“蔓姜会”为“愚人节”。
愚人节起源三：根据基督教徒的说法是：“愚人节”是为了纪念耶稣受难的日子，耶稣被钉死在十字架之前，被迫到处奔走后人以四月一日这一天来纪念他此种无辜地被人活活钉死，这个愚人节的来历故事其实含有警惕之意义。
愚人节起源四;英国有一个民间传说，认为愚人节与一个名叫“哥谭镇”的城镇有关。传说在13世纪有这样一个传统，凡是国王巡视过的道路都会收归公共所有。哥谭镇的民众不愿失去他们的.主干道，于是散布了谣言，希望能够阻止国王的巡视。国王遂派遣消息官前去打探，消息官到达村镇之后，发现满街都是疯傻之人。国王便放弃了巡视的计划。于是愚人节便由纪念哥谭镇镇民的谎言而来。
愚人节起源五：据英国历史学家的考证：“愚人节”的起源乃是出于印度佛教那句“到达彼岸”的话。而英人百科全书里面则是记载着：“愚人节”乃是公元十五世纪宗教革命之后始出现的一个说谎节日。那时西班牙王腓力二世曾经建立一个“异端裁判所”，只要不是天主教徒就被视为异端，在每年四月一日处以极刑，也就是死刑。臣民们感到非常恐怖，于是每天以说谎取笑为乐，来冲淡对统治者之恐惧与憎恨。其后，沿用日久，演变为今日之“愚人节”。
