When the harvest moon rises on October 31, little hobgoblins, spooky ghosts, ghoulish witches and gremlins — their young faces hidden behind grotesque masks — will go forth to frighten friends and neighbors and to threaten them with Trick or Treat .
Halloween (AII Hallows Eve) as the name implies, is a nighttime holiday, the one night in the year when the childs world turns to pure fantasy. Children take all the lead parts while parents and other adults play the supporting roles. Encouraged by teachers and merchants and the remembrance of the good time they had the earlier year, children (from 3 to 11 years old) start preparing their costumes and Halloween decorations weeks ahead. Although parents help the children very much prepare the costumes, on Halloween they must pretend to be frightened by the masked visions that suddenly appear. There will be little witches in long black dresses with tall-pointed hats and magic broomsticks to carry them over the rooftops — to a neighbors house in the next block. Ghosts in sheets run with tell-tale sneakers and half socks showing; and terrible pirates with skull and cross-bones painted on their three-cornered hats. Some carry jack-o-lanterns but all carry bags or UNICEF boxes marked Trick or Treat, which fill up very fast.
翻譯：10月31日，當一輪滿月從空中升起的時候，小妖精、妖魔鬼怪、恐怖的巫婆、小搗蛋鬼——孩子們把小臉蛋藏在奇形怪狀的面具后——會突然出現(xiàn)在朋友及鄰居面前，并威嚇著說：“不給糖，要倒霉?！?
萬圣節(jié)前夜，顧名思義，就是僅一個晚上的節(jié)日。在一年中的這一夜，孩子們的心靈充滿了單純的夢幻奇境。他們是節(jié)日的主人，而父母或其他大人只能起陪襯作用。在老師和商人的鼓勵下，在前一年歡度萬圣節(jié)前夜的美好回憶的誘惑下，孩子們(3至11歲)幾星期前便開始準備服裝和節(jié)日裝飾了。雖然家長往往都要幫助孩子們準備服裝，但在節(jié)日那晚，他們一定要裝出一副被突然出現(xiàn)的帶面具的鬼怪嚇著了的樣子。那時，會有穿著黑色長袍、戴著尖尖高帽子的小巫婆出現(xiàn)，她們乘著神掃帚飛過屋頂，飛到臨街鄰居的屋頂上；還會有披著床單的鬼怪出現(xiàn)，他們邊跑邊露著帆布鞋和短襪子；還有那可怕的海盜，他們戴著繪有骸髏及交叉的大腿骨的三角帽。有的孩子手提用南瓜刻成的人面形燈籠，但每個孩子都手拿著袋子或聯(lián)合國兒童基金會發(fā)的盒子，上面寫著：“不給糖，要倒霉?！焙芸?，這些袋子、盒子里便都裝滿了糖果。