Less Gravity1|第一经典 地心引力减少
British astronomer2 Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at exactly 9:47 a.m. the planet Pluto would pass behind the planet Jupiter, resulting in a stronger pull against the Earth's own gravity and making people lighter for the moment. He told listeners that they could experience this by jumping in the air at 9:47. If they did so, he said, they would experience floating. 3
When 9:47 a.m. arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of calls from listeners who claimed4 that they had felt the floating. One woman claimed that she had been seated around a table with eleven friends, and that all of them, including the table, had begun to float around the room. Another caller complained that she had risen from the ground so rapidly that she had hit her head on the ceiling. 5
英国天文学家帕特里克·莫尔在BBC（英国广播公司）2台宣布：9：47分整，冥王星将运行至木星之后，从而对地球产生更强大的引力，使人会暂时变轻。他说，只要你在9：47分准时向上跳，就会觉得身体变轻了。他还说，如果向上跳，身体有一种漂浮感。
9：47分，BBC2台接到听众打来的数以百计的电话，说他们的的确确感到身体在漂浮。有一位女士打电话说，当时她正和11位朋友坐在一块，（9：47分一到），他们所有人——连桌子也浮了起来！另一位抱怨，说她起身太猛了，结果头撞到了天花板上！
A Strange Island: San Serriffe |经典之二 神奇小岛圣·塞里弗
The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement6 describing the tenth anniversary of the small island of San Serriffe. Articles described the strange culture of the island. One strange island custom was the Festival of the Well Made Play, during which islanders would perform the complete cycle of plays by playwright7 William Douglas-Home in English, Caslon, and Ki-flong (languages of the island). Strangely enough, the islanders did not appear to understand the plays themselves.
“If you have a picture of San Serriffe, we'd like to see it.” The Guardian reported that its phones rang all day as people called up requesting more information about the island.
The island reappeared on April Fool's Day in 1978, 1980 and 1999. Moreover, each time it reappeared the island had changed location. It began in the Indian Ocean, moved to the South China Sea, and ended up in the North Atlantic.
《镜报》发表一期长达七个版面的副刊，描述的是神奇小岛圣·塞里弗十周年庆典。该特刊讲述了神奇小岛独特的文化。其中一个怪异的风俗，就是“名剧节”：在节日庆典期间，岛国居民分别以英语、卡尔森语、基弗龙语（土著语言），全套上演威廉·道格拉斯—荷马的戏剧。奇怪的是，岛国居民自己似乎不懂戏剧。
《镜报》说，“如果你有神奇小岛圣·塞里弗的照片，请给我们大家看一看。” 《镜报》说，每天都有电话打进来希望更多地了解小岛信息。
神奇小岛于1978、1980 及1999愚人节时三次亮相，而她每次都在改变方位。起初她位于印度洋，不久就“迁居”至中国南海，最后“定居”北大西洋。
UFO Lands near London |经典之三 伦敦近郊 飞碟着陆
On March 31, astonished8 British policemen were sent to investigate9 a glowing flying saucer that had settled down in a field in Surrey. As the policemen approached it, a door opened in the bottom of the ship and a small figure wearing a silver space suit walked out. The policemen immediately fled in the opposite direction. The figure turned out to be a midget10, and the flying saucer was a hot air balloon that had been specially built to look like a UFO by Richard Branson, the 36-year-old chairman of Virgin11 Records. Branson had taken off in the balloon the day before, planning to land in London's Hyde Park on April 1. However, a wind change had blown him down a day early in the Surrey field.
The police reported that they received a flood of phone calls from scared12 motorists using roadside emergency13 phones as the balloon passed over the highway. One lady reportedly called a radio station to describe the UFO that she was looking at, not realizing that she was standing in front of her window naked.
One of the policemen who had to approach the “UFO” later admitted that, “I have never been so scared in 20 years of being a policeman.”
3月31日，一片闪闪发光的飞碟着陆于塞雷一块农田上，目瞪口呆的英国警察奉命前往调查。当警察接近飞碟时，飞碟底端突然打开一扇门，走出一位身穿银色宇航服的小人儿。警察立即调头鼠窜。这小不点原来是个侏儒，那飞碟则是个热气球，造得特像飞碟——建造者是36岁的里查德·布朗森，“处女唱片公司”董事长。布朗森早在一天前就登上热气球，本计划于4月1 日在伦敦海德公园着陆，不幸为大风吹离航线，而提前一天在塞雷着陆。
警察说，当飞碟飞越公路上空时，惊恐万状的司机从路旁紧急电话亭打来的电话像潮水一般涌来。据报道，有位女士给电台打电话描述她所看到的飞碟时，完全没有意识到站在窗前的她当时一丝不挂！
有位不得不接近飞碟的警察事后承认：“当了20年警察，我从来没这么怕过。”
April Fool＇s Wedding |经典之四 愚人节婚礼
Martin Fitchie, a 29 year-old bachelor14, arrived at what he thought was a friend's wedding, only to discover that the wedding was his own. His girlfriend of nine years, Sue Ludlow, was waiting for him in the Canterbury register office, dressed in her bridal15 best. Fitchie agreed to her proposal16, and after the ceremony was over he commented17, “I am sure when I have had time to think about it, I will quite like the idea of being married.”
29岁的单身汉马汀·费奇到达某地，本打算去参加朋友的婚礼，结果发现那是自个的婚礼！当时与他交往已达9年的女友劳·卢德露一袭新娘礼服，正在坎特伯雷结婚登记注册处等他。费奇接受了她的求婚，并在婚礼后说道：“要是我事先有时间想一想，我认为结婚这个点子蛮不错。”
The Swiss Spaghetti18 Harvest|经典之五 瑞士面条大丰收
On April 1, 1957 the British news show broadcast a story about a large spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was because of an unusually mild winter. The audience heard the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched a rural Swiss family picking up spaghetti off trees and placing it into baskets.
Why, if spaghetti grows on trees, does it always come in uniform lengths? The answer was that “this is the result of many years of patient effort.”
And the life of a spaghetti farmer was not free of worries: “The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer. There's always the chance of a late frost19 which, while not entirely destroying the crop, generally affects the flavor20 and makes it difficult for him to obtain top prices in world markets.”
For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti.
The BBC was flooded with calls, and when curious viewers asked how they could grow their own spaghetti trees, the BBC reportedly replied that they should “place a piece of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”
1957年4月1日英国播出一条新闻，说是瑞士南部面条大丰收。这种作物的大丰收要归功于百年一见的暖冬。听众聆听着有关面条这一作物的详尽报道，亲眼看到一位瑞士农民从面条树上摘下面条，然后放到篮子里。
既然面条长在树上，人们不禁要问，为何它长得长短统一、分毫不差？答曰：“这是多年辛勤劳动的结晶。”
而种植面条的农家也不无担忧：“对咱们种面条的农家来说，三月下旬最令人担心。总怕有倒春寒——虽然不至于颗粒无收，但会影响面条的口味，在世界市场上很难卖出高价。”
对那些爱这一口的人而言，还有什么比得上自家种的面条呢？
电话把BBC电台淹没了。无数好奇的观众询问：怎么样自己动手种植面条树？据报道，BBC电台的回答是：“把一截面条放在一听番茄酱里，然后期待奇迹出现。”
1. gravity n．引力
2． astronomer n． 天文学家
3． float ．漂浮
4． claim v．宣称
5． ceiling n．天花板
6． supplement n．副刊
7． playwright n．剧作家
8． astonish v．（使人）吃惊
9． investigate v．调查
10． midget n．侏儒
11． virgin n．处女
12． scare v．（受）惊吓
13． emergency n．紧急状态
14． bachelor n．单身汉
15． bridal adj．新娘的
16． proposal n．求婚
17． ceremony n．礼仪
comment v．评论
18． spaghetti n．意大利面条
19． frost n．霜冻
20． flavor n．味道