愚人節:愚人傳統正在消亡?大綱

No joke: Researchers say we are moving away from personAl, real-world pranks and into a world of media-driven jokes and Internet tomfoolery. Does this spell the end of April Fools' Day as we know it?

絕非兒戲：研究人員表示，我們與切身的、現實生活的惡作劇漸行漸遠，正走進充斥着媒體炒作的笑話和網絡無聊蠢事的世界。這是否意味着我們所熟知的愚人節的消亡呢？

Though pranksters and joke-lovers in many countries now gleefully prepare to dupe friends and loved ones on April Fool's Day, no one knows exactly when or why, or even where, this tradition began.

儘管很多國家的惡作劇達人和笑話達人正興高采烈地準備在愚人節拿愛人和朋友開涮，但沒有人知道這種習俗開始的確切時間、原因、甚至地點。

The importance of this day of prank-pulling freedom is no laughing matter. It's integral to American culture, a day of funny is important to society, and also helps humans bond. Researchers say our take on comedy is changing, though. And that may mean fewer pranks in the future.

愚人節能隨便開玩笑，但它的重要性卻並非兒戲。它是美國文化不可缺少的一部分，搞笑的一天對社會很重要，有助於增進人們的關係。研究人員表示，我們的喜劇口味正發生變化，這意味着未來的惡作劇會更少。

"The usual pranks that we would see 50 years ago are much less common," Gary Alan Fine, a sociologist at Northwestern University in Illinois, told LiveScience. "I think we are seeing the decline of interpersonal pranks."

美國伊利諾斯州西北大學的社會學家加里•艾倫•凡恩告訴科學生活網站：“50年前常見的惡作劇現在越來越少了。我認爲人與人之間的惡作劇正在減少。”

"At one time, prankstering played a bigger role in American society. Some of the prankstering was also very harmful," Joseph Boskin, a professor emeritus of history at Boston University, told LiveScience.

波士頓大學的退休歷史教授約瑟夫•博斯金告訴該網站：“惡作劇曾經在美國社會中扮演着更重要的角色，有些笑話也很有害。”

This type of harmful prank-playing was usually directed toward marginalized sections of society. "Pranks have played a very big role in this situation, so I'm glad that the prankster part of it has declined, but the poking fun at life in general goes on," Boskin said.

社會的邊緣人羣通常是這種有害的惡作劇的對象。博斯金說：“惡作劇在這種情況下影響很大，因此我很高興見到惡作劇的衰亡，但一般來講拿生活開涮的習慣還在繼續。”

The big problem is knowing where to draw the line between playful pranks and meanness on the verge of bullying, Fine said.

但凡恩說，最大的問題是知道如何分清幽默的惡作劇和近似於恃強凌弱行爲的卑劣做法。

"Practical jokes of a certain sort shade into bullying, they shade into meanness and we are very concerned as a society about meanness," Fine said. "Finding out what that point is, is difficult for a society."

凡恩說：“某種類型的惡作劇漸漸會變成欺負人，漸漸變成卑鄙行爲，我們對充滿卑鄙行爲的社會心存憂慮。但對社會而言，發現這點很困難。”

Because of our conscientiousness and desire to ensure equality, Americans may have drawn that line too far along the spectrum, hedging out playful pranking. And traditional pranking may be left out in the cold, Fine said.

由於美國民衆懷有確保平等的良知和意願，在區別這兩類時可能存在很大偏頗，將很多幽默的惡作劇排斥在外。這樣一來，傳統的惡作劇可能就被冷落了。