4 April

4 April Okay, so I lied. Remember in Chapter One when I said there would be no pillow fighting in this book? Well, April Fools! Mrs. Roopy told us the first Saturday in April is International Pillow Fight Day. "Let's celebrate today!" I shouted. "Can we have a pillow fight?"

好吧，我撒谎了。还记得第一章我说过这本书里不会有枕头大战吗？ 好吧，愚人节快乐！鲁比太太告诉我们四月的第一个星期六是国际枕头大战日。 “让我们今天庆祝一下！”我叫道。 “我们能来一场枕头大战吗？”

Everybody thought that was a great idea. But before we could have a pillow fight, Mrs. Roopy made us do some research. Ugh.* So we got on the computers and learned all about pillow fighting. Nobody knows who the genius was who invented it. But there were pillow fights as far back as ancient Rome. So I guess before the gladiators fought to the death, they would warm up with a pillow fight. Pillow fighting is against the law in Germany, but people all over the world have pillow fights. In Sri Lanka, they call it "kotta pora." In Japan, they don't hit each other with the pillows—they throw them at each other! In Brazil, Ghana, Canada, and Boca Raton, Florida, they even have professional pillow fighting. The biggest pillow fight in history took place in Minnesota in 2018. More than seven thousand people were pillow fighting at the same time! I wish I could have seen that. Our pillow fight wasn't that big. Mrs. Roopy got a bunch of pillows and we moved all the tables and chairs out of the way in the media center. She told us pillow fighting is mostly harmless, but sometimes kids get hurt when they get knocked

每个人都认为这是个好主意。 但在我们开始枕头大战之前，鲁比太太让我们做了一些调查。 啊。所以我们上了电脑，学习了所有关于枕头大战的知识。 没有人知道发明它的天才是谁。 但早在古罗马时期就有枕头大战了。 所以我猜角斗士们在决一死战之前，他们会用枕头大战来热身。 枕头大战在德国是违法的，但世界各地的人们都有枕头大战。 在斯里兰卡，他们称之为kotta pora。 在日本，他们不是用枕头打对方，而是互相扔枕头！在巴西、加纳、加拿大和佛罗里达州的博卡拉顿，他们甚至有专业的枕头大战。 历史上最大的枕头大战发生在2018年的明尼苏达州。 七千多人同时在打枕头仗！真希望我能看到。 我们的枕头大战没那么严重。 鲁比太太拿了一堆枕头，我们把媒体中心所有的桌子和椅子都挪开。 她告诉我们，枕头大战基本上是无害的，但有时孩子们被撞倒时也会受伤

off balance or hit their head on something. So we had to be careful. "On your mark," she said. "Get set... FIGHT!" Then we went at it. You should have been there! Everybody was whacking everybody else with pillows and laughing. It was the best day of my life. Pillow fighting is great because you can fight without hurting anybody. Do you know what would be cool? Let's say two countries are about to go to war. But the presidents of both countries agree to have a pillow fight instead. Just the two of them. Whoever wins the pillow fight wins the war. Then nobody has to get hurt or die in the war.

失去平衡或者头撞到了什么东西。 所以我们必须小心。“各就各位，”她说。 “预备…战斗!”然后我们就开始了。 你应该去的！每个人都在笑着用枕头敲打别人。 那是我一生中最美好的一天。 枕头大战很棒，因为你可以在不伤害任何人的情况下战斗。 你知道什么会很酷吗？ 假设两个国家即将开战。 但两国总统都同意进行一场枕头大战。 就他们两个。谁赢了枕头大战，谁就赢了战争。 这样就没人会在战争中受伤或死亡。

International Pillow Fight Day isn't the only weird holiday in April. April 4 is Walk Around Things Day. Yes, it's a day to walk around things. The point is to take time to think about a problem instead of doing the first nutty thing that pops into your head. But my favorite holiday in April takes place on the twenty-third. That's International Nose-Picking Day! Really! It's a holiday to celebrate nose picking! People think picking your nose is gross. Not me. I think it's gross to walk around all day with boogers in your nose. Yuck! Did you know that scientists call picking your nose "rhinotillexis"? What's amazing about that is some scientist had the time to think up a word for nose picking. You would think scientists have more important things to do.

国际枕头大战日并不是4月份唯一一个奇怪的节日。 4月4日是“四处走走日”。 是的，这是一个四处走走的日子。 关键是要花时间去思考一个问题，而不是做第一个突然出现在你脑海里的疯狂的事情。 但是我最喜欢的节日是在4月23日。 这是国际挖鼻日！真的!这是庆祝挖鼻屎的节日！人们认为挖鼻孔很恶心。 不是我。我觉得整天带着鼻屎走来走去很恶心。 讨厌的东西!你知道科学家们把挖鼻孔称为“rhinotillexis”吗？ 令人惊讶的是，一些科学家有时间想出一个词来形容挖鼻孔。 你可能会认为科学家有更重要的事情要做。