昨天是4月1日愚人节，英国几家颇具“愚”乐精神的报纸纷纷炮制猛料，让不少读者大跌眼镜。

Portugal football star Cristiano Ronaldo is to join Spain to help ease his nation's debt crisis and Britain is to begin taxing fresh air, British newspapers reported in their April Fools' Day editions.

According to the Independent broadsheet, Real Madrid winger Ronaldo has agreed to "act like a patriot¹" and defect to the Spanish national team, netting his debt-ravaged country 160 million euros (227 million dollars).

"Weighed down by debt...Portugal's finance ministry² has secured the co-operation of football's highest-paid player in an audacious（无畏的） bid to draw the nation back from the brink³ of economic collapse," claimed the paper's lead.

Mirror reporter Flora⁴ Olip, coincidentally an anagram（回文构词法） of April fool, revealed that the British government was to introduce a "gasp⁵" bill to raise taxes from fresh air.

"Olip" reported that the "Air Tariff⁶ Control" system would tax areas with fresher air while more polluted cities such as London and Manchester would be due for a rebate⁷.

The paper "cited" a senior Environment Agency technician as saying: "Air is natural but, just like water, it is a finite resource（有限资源） that we have to manage sensibly".

A Labour lawmaker was apparently⁸ shocked, admitting it had "literally⁹ taken his breath away".

The Daily Express joined in the fun, reporting that a British company had developed a modified Zimmer walking frame which incorporated a skateboard for pensioners¹⁰ who wanted something "a little more speedy".