Take Away English-The Changing Face of Halloween 万圣节的变迁

A friendly ghost on Halloween

October 31st is Halloween when children in the UK dress up as ghosts, witches and all kinds of weird¹, 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 prank².

But the innocence³ of Halloween could be on the wane⁴. 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 Inspector⁵ Stribblehill said "The way people celebrate Halloween has been steadily⁶ 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 youngsters⁷ are doing things like throwing eggs or flour, and that can be very intimidating⁸, particularly for the elderly or vulnerable⁹."

Last year Surry police had to deal with complaints of broken windows and fireworks being pushed through letterboxes. Whilst¹⁰ 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

 

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• 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。

2 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• 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。

3 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• 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。

4 wane   

n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦

参考例句：

• 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。

5 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• 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。

6 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• 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。

7 youngsters   

n.孩子( youngster的名词复数 )；少年；青年；年轻人

参考例句：

• 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。

8 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• 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。

9 vulnerable   

adj.易受伤的，脆弱的，易受攻击的

参考例句：

• 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。

10 whilst   

conj.一边...一边，当...的时候，同时，时时

参考例句：

• She sang whilst she worked.她边干活边唱歌。
• There was dead silence in the court,whilst the white rabbit read out these verses.当白兔子念诗的时候，法庭上鸦雀无声。