VOA慢速英語(yǔ): 愚人節(jié)到了！

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We have recently received several comments from listeners that we speaktoo slowly. So starting today, April 1, the VOA Learning English staff will readall articles much more quickly. Like this. We hope you enjoy our new style.

In the news today, the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)reported “significant safety concerns” with Thailand’s air safety practices lastweek. The negative report may prevent some flights from coming out of thekingdom and forced Thailand’s government to deal quickly with the results onMonday.

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Just kidding! April Fools!

Every year on April 1, April Fools’ Day is celebrated in many countries aroundthe world. In France, it’s called Poisson d’Avril or “Fish of April.” In Scotland, the holiday is often called “Gowkie Day.” In Iraq, the holiday is called Kithbet Neesan or “April Lie.”

History experts say people have celebrated April Fools’ Day for a long time.Some believe the tradition comes from the ancient Romans more than twothousand years ago. It was a day of playing games and pretending to besomeone else.

Others say the day for fooling began in France in 1564, when King Charleschanged the yearly calendar. He moved New Year’s Day from April 1 toJanuary 1. Many people did not know about the change because ofcommunication problems back then. Some people continued to celebrate NewYear’s Day on April 1. Other people called them April Fools and played jokeson them.

In the United States, April Fools’ Day is just a day of joking and playing trickson friends. These kinds of jokes are also called pranks. These jokes typicallyend in the prankster shouting “April Fools’!”

Simple pranks, like telling a friend a funny lie or making prank phone calls, arestill common. But, major companies also get in on April Fools’ Day fun in amuch bigger way. A few years ago, on April 1, Starbucks announced it wasintroducing new coffee cup sizes -- Plenta and Micra. The very large cups,bigger than a human head, remained useful for customers even after finishingall that coffee. According to Starbucks, the cups could be used as a rain hat, a pot for plants, or a lampshade.

Starbucks' April Fools' Day prank: New giant and very tiny coffee cups

It did not take long for customers to catch on to the prank!

More and more, people use social media or smart phone apps to play prankson their friends on April Fools’ Day. One very annoying smart phone app, Cat Facts, sends funny facts about cats to your friends’ phones, every day.

And sometimes, simple, more traditional April Fools’ pranks go viral on socialmedia. Last year, a class of college students in the U.S. state of Michiganplayed a prank on their professor. The professor had a classroom rule that, ifa student’s phone rings during class, the student must answer it using thespeakerphone. This means the whole class gets to listen to the conversation.

One student decided to teach the professor that his rule could be dangerous. She planned for a friend to call her, pretending to be someone from thePregnancy Resource Center. On speakerphone for the whole class to hear, the friend announced the news that the student’s recent pregnancy test waspositive. The professor quickly got embarrassed and told the student sheshould turn off speakerphone.

The student responded, “That’s okay. I’ve been expecting this. I already knowwhat I’m going to name the baby. The first name will be April, and the middlename will be Fools!”

The professor, of course, quickly caught on to the joke, and was quicklyrelieved!

The social media-savvy students posted a video of the classroom prank onYouTube. One year later, the video has more than 38 million views.

Do you have any ideas for April Fools’ Day pranks? Have your friends playedpranks on you before? Tell us about one in the comments section!

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Words in This Story

pretend – v. to act as if something is true when it is not true

prank – n. a trick that is done to someone usually as a joke

prankster – n. a person who likes playing pranks.

get in on – phrasal verb. to become involved in

catch on – phrasal verb. to understand what is meant or how to dosomething.

viral – adj. relating to or involving an image, video, piece of information, etc., that is spread rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another.