Unit 12

Life is full of the unexpected.

2a Have you ever played jokes on others, especially on April Fool’s Day? Have you ever been fooled by others? Tell your story to your partner? …

搞怪愚人节

老师叫你马上去他办公室！

对噢，老师让我通知你作业重写！

今天是愚人节 学校说要补课

我才不会上当呢！深思熟虑……

2b Read the passage quickly. Then match each paragraph with the main idea.Paragraph 1 The most famous trick playedParagraph 2 Examples of funny stories that happened on April Fool’s DayParagraph 3 An introduction to April Fool’s DayParagraph 4 A sad story that happened on April Fool’s Day

USING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGECarefully reading the first sentence in each paragraph can activate your own knowledge of the topic and help you guess what the whole text is about.

April Fool’s Day is a celebration that takes place in di erent countries around the ffworld. It happens on April 1st every year and is a day when many people play all kinds of tricks and jokes on each other. One April Fool’s Day, a reporter in England announced that there would be no more spaghetti because the spaghetti farmers in Italy had stopped growing spaghetti. Many people ran to their local supermarkets to

buy as much spaghetti as they could. By the time people realized that the story was a hoax, all of the spaghetti across the country had been sold out. In another famous trick a TV show in England reported the discovery of special water. They said this water would help people lose weight and that one customer had already lost a lot of weight in just four months. By the end of the day, more than

10,000 people had phoned the TV station to find out how to get this water.

Many April Fool’s jokes may end up being not very funny. A famous TV star once invited his girlfriend onto his show on April Fool’s Day. He asked her to marry him. The lady was so happy because she really wanted to get married. However, when she said “yes”, he replied, “April Fool!” That little joke didn’t

have a very happy ending. The TV star lost his girlfriend and his show was canceled.

One of the world’s most famous tricks, however, happened in October rather than April. In that month in 1938, actor Orson Welles announced on his radio program that aliens from Mars had landed on the earth.

He described where they had landed and told how they were moving across the United States. Welles made it sound so real that hundreds of people believed the story, and fear spread across the whole country. By the time police o cers ffiannounced that the story was a hoax, thousands of people had left their homes.

Language points

1. April Fool’s Day is a celebration that takes

place in different countries around the world.

  愚人节一种发生在世界上不同国家的庆祝活动。

take place 意为“发生；进行；举行；产生”。

take place 与 happen

take place 通常指事先计划或预料到的事情发生， 还可表示“举行”的意思。

happen

常指具体的事情发生，特指那些偶然或出乎意料发生的事情，后接不定式，表示“碰巧；恰好”之意。

例： The sports meeting will take place in our 

school.  运动会将在我校举行。

I happened to be in the lab that day. 

那天我碰巧在实验室。

2. It happens on April 1st every year and is a day when many people play all kinds of tricks and jokes on each other. 愚人节是每年的四月一日，在这一天，人们互相捉弄开各种玩笑。

play tricks on sb. 意为“捉弄某人”，而 play jokes on sb. 则是“对某人开玩笑 ”的意思。

It's impolite to laugh at, stare at or play _____on disabled people   A. fun    B. jokes     C. tricks    D. parts

试一试C

3. Many people ran to their local supermarkets  to buy as much spaghetti as they could.  很多 人跑到当地的超市抢购尽可能多的意大利面条。

as + 形容词 / 副词的原级 + as sb. can / could  相当于 as +  形容词 / 副词原级 + as possible ，意为“尽可能地……”，在句中作状语。 例： We must do everything as well as we can.  = We must do everything as well as possible.  我们要尽量做好每一件事。

4. Many April Fool’s jokes may end up being not very funny. 许多愚人节笑话可能以不是很有趣而告终。

end up doing sth. 意为“以 ...... 结束，以 ...... 告终”。

例： I must make good use of my spare time,

or I will end up doing nothing.

我必须充分利用空闲的时间 , 否则我的生 命将会在无所事事中告终。

5. He asked her to marry him. 他向她求婚。 marry sb. 意为“嫁 / 娶某人”。 get married to sb. 意为“嫁 / 娶某人 ; 与某人

结婚”，为短暂性词组。 be married to sb. 意为“嫁 / 娶某人；与某人

结婚”，是延续性词组。 例： She married John last year.

= She got married to John last year.

= She has been married to John for one year.

她去年嫁给了 John 。

6. In that month in 1938, actor Orson Welles

announced on his radio program that aliens

from Mars had landed on the earth. 在 1938 年 的那个月，演员奥森 . 威尔斯在他的广播节目 中宣布火星人已经登陆地球。 land on 意为“着陆；降落于”，反义词组为 “take off ”, 意为“起飞”。例： Be careful! The plane is going to land on the

airport.

小心点！飞机马上要降落于飞机场了。

2c Read the passage again and answer the questions.

1.Why did the supermarkets run out of spaghetti one April Fool’s Day? Because a reporter announced that there

would be no more spaghetti as spaghetti farmers in Italy had stopped growing spaghetti.

2.What did the TV show say that the special water could do?

It was said that the special water would help people lose weight.

3.Why did the TV star’s joke have a bad ending?

Because he lost both his girlfriend and his show.

4. When did Orson Welles tell people about aliens from Mars landing on the earth?

It was in October 1938.

5. Why did so many people believe Orson Welles?

Because Orson Welles made it sound so real that hundreds of people believed the story.

6.Which of these stories is the most believable? Which is the least believable? Why? I think… Because…

7.Would you be fooled by any of these stories? Yes, I would. Because… No, I wouldn’t. Because…

2d Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets.

1.After the spaghetti story _________ (appear) in the news,

everyone_________ (rush) to the supermarkets.2. By the time people__________ (find out)

the story was not true, all the spaghetti in the supermarkets ______________ (disappear).

appearedrushed

found out

had disappeared

3. By the time the day ______ (end), more than 10,000 people _________ (call) the TV station to ask about the special water.4. By the time the show _______ (end), the TV star ______ (lose) his girlfriend.5. By the time police o cers _______ ffi(tell) the country that the story was a hoax, many people _______________ (run away) from their homes.

endedhad called

endedhad lost

told

had rung away

2e Tell your funny story from 2a to the class. The class will vote for:

a. the funniest jokeb. the most embarrassing joke c. the most creative joke

A: What’s your story?B: Well, last year, on the first day of school, my sister put a piece of paper on my back that said “Please say hello.” All morning at school ...