《参考消息》2006年4月3日第6版：欧洲媒体助兴愚人节
美联社伦敦4月1日电：欧洲媒体钟爱愚人节恶作剧
Europe's news media loves April Fool's pranks
Updated Sat. Apr. 1 2006 11:42 PM ET
Associated Press
LONDON — When it comes April Fool's Day, Europe's media are （1）having the last laugh.
Britain's Daily Mail reported Saturday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair repainted the traditionally black front door of his Downing Street office "socialist red"（2） to match his Labour party colours, while The Times ran a story about a new song-activated credit card security system called Chip 'n' Sing.
Neither is true, of course, but some two centuries after the tradition began, media outlets still are trying （3）to convince the gullible of the outrageous and improbable in an unofficial yearly competition to dupe[1] the naive and unsuspecting.
And it's not just Britain. Sweden's leading daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, scared thousands of bicyclists by claiming that Stockholm's city government would impose speed limits on bicycles in the inner city -- to 20 kilometres an hour.
A local edition of the Rome daily Il Messaggero reported that Return to Morality, a new association of residents in the central city of Aquila, had persuaded local officials to cover up monuments in the main square by dressing the naked men and women with clothes made of bronze.
The Moscow daily Moskovsky Komsomolets turned the day into a contest, offering free subscriptions to callers who identified false stories. （4）Aliens demanding a spaceship crew hand over its cargo of cheese spread; A secret research institute where Kremlin candidates to succeed President Vladimir Putin undergo scientific testing; and plans for a parliament building where legislators' offices would boast a bar, a balcony and a Jacuzzi[2], were among the Russian newspaper's gags[3].
In Belgium, the VRT radio network said the regional government in Flanders was so concerned about the impact of the country's infamously[4] dull weather on the population that it had decided to hand out 10,000 "sun cheques" giving citizens free visits to sun beds.
（5）Britain prides itself on a long tradition of elaborate hoaxes[5]. In 1957, the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a segment on the public affairs program Panorama about the unusually strong spaghetti[6] harvest that year in southern Switzerland. Twenty years later, Britain's Guardian newspaper published a seven-page special supplement honouring the 10th anniversary of the picturesque[7] island of San Serriffe, its leader, General Pica, and its capital, Bodoni.
"The impact of the seven-page survey was quite astonishing," former Guardian editor and current columnist David McKie said in Saturday's edition. "（6）The office all day was bedlam[8] as people pestered[9] the switchboard with requests for more information. Both travel agencies and airlines made official complaints to the editor, Peter Preston, about the disruption as customers simply refused to believe that the islands did not exist."
[EXERCISE]
翻译文中划线部分（注意译文要与上下文衔接通顺）：
《参考消息》对应译文——
[2]Jacuzzi n. "佳骨肌"浴缸(周邊可噴水按摩的小浴池,源自商標名)
[3]gag n. a joke or funny story: 插科打诨，玩笑
He told a few gags.
It was a bit of a running gag (=a joke which is repeated) in the show.
[4]infamous adj. well known for being bad or evil
1. 聲名狼藉的,臭名昭著的;罪大惡極的
The infamous traitor was sentenced to death.
那個罪大惡極的叛徒被判處死刑。
2. 無恥的,不名譽的
I was shocked by her infamous behavior.
我對她不名譽的行為大為震驚。
3. 【口】差勁的,蹩腳的
[5]hoax n.骗局;玩笑;恶作剧
1. a false warning about something dangerous:
e.g. a bomb hoax
hoax calls (=telephone calls giving false information) to the police
2. an attempt to make people believe something that is not true:
e.g. an elaborate hoax
[6]spaghetti n.通心粉
[7]picturesque adj. 风景如画的；别致的
1. a picturesque place is pretty and interesting in an old-fashioned way:
e.g. a quiet fishing village with a picturesque harbour
2. picturesque language uses unusual, interesting, or sometimes rude words to describe something:
e.g. a picturesque account of his trip to New York
[8]bedlam n. a situation where there is a lot of noise and confusion [= chaos]混乱，喧闹的情形
[9]pester vt. to annoy someone, especially by asking them many times to do something
1. 煩擾,糾纏[(+for/with)]
For years Mary had been pestering him to take her to Europe.
瑪麗多年來一直纏著他要他帶她去歐洲玩。
The beggars pestered the tourists for money.
乞丐們糾纏遊客要錢。