Take Away English-The Changing Face of Halloween 万圣节的变迁
时间：2019-01-02 作者：英语课 分类：Take Away English
A friendly ghost on Halloween
October 31st is Halloween when children in the UK dress up as ghosts, witches and all kinds of weird 1, wonderful but very scary creatures and go "trick or treating". They visit their neighbours and show off their costumes and in return are given goodies.
If a child knocks on your door on Halloween, you should be ready with treats (usually sweets or chocolate) for them. If you don't hand over a treat, they might play a trick on you, like saying "Boo!" to try to scare you or play some other kind of harmless prank 2.
But the innocence 3 of Halloween could be on the wane 4. Police departments around the country say there's been a sharp rise in anti-social behaviour linked to the traditional door-to-door Halloween calls.
Chris Weigold of Avon and Somerset police said "On an average day we receive 776 calls via the 999 system but on the 31st of October this was up to 1388 last year"
In Surrey Chief Inspector 5 Stribblehill said "The way people celebrate Halloween has been steadily 6 changing over the last few years. I think trick or treating has become more aggressive. It used to be pulling a horrible face or something equally harmless, but more and more youngsters 7 are doing things like throwing eggs or flour, and that can be very intimidating 8, particularly for the elderly or vulnerable 9."
Last year Surry police had to deal with complaints of broken windows and fireworks being pushed through letterboxes. Whilst 10 in Dorset the police are distributing posters that people can put up in their windows to let trick or treaters know they aren't welcome.
This year, however, there's been a change. A group of teenagers who were trick or treating in Bristol noticed a house on fire. They broke in through a window and saw 33 year old Mike Starr unconscious on the floor. They dragged him out and helped him to hospital. One of the boys' mothers said: "I'm really proud of them all."
So it seems a kinder, more gentle Halloween might be in store for us all from now on.
GLOSSARY 词汇表
weird
离奇古怪的
goodies
(糖果等)好东西
play a trick
捉弄
innocence
清白，单纯
anti-social behaviour
反社会行为
the 999 system
999紧急呼救
pulling a horrible face
做个吓人的鬼脸
vunerable
柔弱的, 易受攻击的
fireworks
烟花
broke in
闯入
scary
恐怖的
hand over
交给, 移交
harmless prank
无恶意的恶作剧
on the wane
衰竭, 消逝
door-to-door
挨家挨户
steadily
稳定地
intimidating
咄咄逼人的
complaints
抱怨
letterboxes
信箱
unconscious
不省人事的
- From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
- His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
- It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
- The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。
- There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
- The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。
- The moon is on the wane.月亮渐亏。
- Her enthusiasm for him was beginning to wane.她对他的热情在开始减退。
- The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
- The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。
- The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
- Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
- We followed the youngsters at a more sedate pace. 我们跟在年轻人后面，步子稍慢一点。
- The camp is for youngsters aged 8 to 14. 这次夏令营是为8至14岁的少年儿童安排的。
- They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
- This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。
- He volunteered to protect her as she looked so vulnerable.她看上去很脆弱，他就主动去保护她。
- The company is in an economically vulnerable position.该公司目前经济状况不稳定。