英语笑话:the new calendar

　　One theory is that in Europe, until the sixteenth century, March 25th, the first day of the Vernal Equinox Festival, was New Year’s Day. On April 1st, the last day of the festival, people used to give presents to one another. In 1564, Charles IX, the French king, adopting the Gregorian calendar and fixed January 1st as New Year’s Day. Those who were against the revision continued to express their complaints by giving presents or paying New Year’s visits on April 1st. In the following years, these traditionalists who insisted on celebrating the New Year at its old time were mocked as fools and people would play pranks and tricks on them and called them ` Poisson d’avril ’, meaning April Fish. This must have been so much fun that it spread all over the world and people played tricks on everyone, not just the people who didn’t accept the new calendar.

　　第一种说法是，在16世纪前的欧洲，3月25日是春分节的第一天，也是新年。而4月1日是春分节的最后一天，在这天，人们常常会去给别人送礼。在1564年，法国皇帝查尔斯九世正式采用公历，规定每年的1月1日为新年。而那些不接受这一规定的人则仍旧在4月1日送礼或进行新年旅行来表示他们的不满。几年后，那些依然遵循旧历庆祝新年的顽固派被当成了愚人，其他人会嘲笑和捉弄这些愚人，并戏称他们为“Poisson d’avril”，就是“愚人”的意思。这种捉弄愚人的风俗肯定给人们带去了很多的欢乐，所以，愚人节传遍世界，人们不仅仅捉弄那些不接受新历的人，还对对周围所有的人都开起了玩笑。

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