听播客学英语 11 一年中最可怕的一天

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Some very scary Halloween pumpkins. Photo by Pedro J Ferreira/flickr 　　

Today is 31 October, and it is the scariest day of the year. Do you know the verb “to scare”? If you scare someone, you frighten them, you make them afraid. So, “scary” means “frightening” and today is a special, scary sort of day, as I shall explain.

　　Today is Halloween. “Halloween” means “the evening of (that is, the day before) All Hallows Day”, and “All Hallows Day” is an old Christian² festival which takes place on 1 November, when special prayers are said for people who have recently died. But Halloween is not a Christian festival. Its origin lies in pre-Christian Ireland. It was a festival to mark the end of the summer and the start of the cold days of winter. It was a time when the world of the spirits and the fairies and the ghosts touched our world, and special magical things might happen. And magical things are frightening. So Halloween is a special scary day!

　　Kevin and Joanne have invited all their friends to a Halloween party. They have put orange and black decorations in their sitting room. They have bought some pumpkins and scraped³ the flesh and the seeds out of them. They have cut scary faces on the pumpkins and put candles inside. The pumpkins now look like the picture which you can see on the website, or on your iPod screens. I am sure that you think that they are very frightening!

　　Of course, their friends will come to the party in fancy⁴ dress. That means that they will all dress like evil⁵ witches, or like ghosts, or like spiders or other scary things. They will paint their faces, or wear masks, to make themselves look even more scary. To add to the scary atmosphere, Kevin has borrowed a DVD of an old film called Dracula. The film was made in 1931, and is about Count Dracula, who is a scary man who drinks human blood at breakfast time instead of coffee. Some of the guests at the party will come dressed as Count Dracula, with long teeth so that they can bite the necks of other guests and drink their blood. Joanne has made a special drink, made out of red wine and blackcurrant juice, so that the guests at the party can look as if they are drinking human blood even if they aren’t!

　　Everyone will have great fun at the party. They will laugh at each other’s fancy dress. They will turn the lights out and pretend to be ghosts. They will watch the Dracula film and pretend to be scared. The men will do what they always do at parties – they will drink beer and talk about football. And the women will do what they always do at parties – they will sit in the kitchen and discuss each other’s husbands and boy-friends. (I find that bit really scary!) They will even find time to play some games, like ducking for apples. This is a traditional game at this time of year. You get a large tub⁶ of water and float some apples on the top. Each guest has to kneel⁷ in front of the tub of water, with a blindfold⁸ so that they cannot see, and with their hands behind their backs, and try to get one of the apples out of the water with their teeth. Everyone will get very wet, and their special scary makeup⁹ will run.

　　Unfortunately, Kevin and Joanne have not invited me to their party. I shall have to stay at home and try to be scared by myself. During the evening, the doorbell will ring. I will open the door and see a group of rather small witches and ghosts standing¹⁰ outside. I will of course be very scared, until I see that they are actually some of the children who live nearby. They are “trick-or-treating” (or “guising” as people say in Scotland). They go from house to house asking for “treats” such as sweets or biscuits. If you don’t give them any, they will do evil magic to hurt you. And if you do give them some sweets or biscuits, the witches and ghosts will shout “Thanks, mister” and run off to ring the doorbell next door.

　　Now you know all about the crazy festival called Halloween. I hope you have a really scary time tonight.

1 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 scraped   

v.刮掉(scrape的过去式和过去分词)；擦伤

参考例句：

• She scraped the mud off her boots. 她刮掉了靴子上的泥。
• He scraped his boots clean before coming into the house. 进屋前他先把靴子擦干净。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 fancy   

n.想像力，幻想；喜好，爱；adj.想像的，时髦的，华丽装饰的，奢侈的；技巧的；vt.想象，自认为，喜好

参考例句：

• He seemed to have taken quite a fancy to her.他似乎相当喜欢她。
• I have a fancy that it's going to rain.我想大概要下雨。

5 evil   

n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的

参考例句：

• We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
• Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。

6 tub   

n.桶，塑料杯，纸杯；盆，洗澡盆，浴缸

参考例句：

• The girl washed clothes in a tub.那女孩把衣服放在木盆里洗。
• The tub needs fixing too.It leaks.浴盆也得修了。它漏。

7 kneel   

vi.跪，跪下，跪着

参考例句：

• At church people kneel when they pray.人们在教堂祈祷时要下跪。
• Then the two fighters kneel and pray to God.然后两个斗士跪下，向上帝祈祷。

8 blindfold   

vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物

参考例句：

• They put a blindfold on a horse.他们给马蒙上遮眼布。
• I can do it blindfold.我闭着眼睛都能做。

9 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。