This year is a leap
year. Leap years are years with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years
are necessary because the actual length of a year is 365.242 days, not 365
days, as commonly stated. Basically, leap years come every 4 years, and most years
that can be evenly(平均地) divided
by 4 have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29th
which is known as a leap day. Why leap is used here? Leap means jump.[來(lái)源:]
However, there is one
exception to the leap year rule about century years. Century years are only
considered as leap years if they are evenly divided by 400. Therefore, 1900 was
not a leap year, but 2000 was a leap year.
A person who is born on February 29th
may be called a "leapling" or a "leap year baby". In
non-leap years, some leaplings celebrate(慶祝) their birthday on either February 28th or March 1st.
In England and Wales or in Hong Kong, a person born on February 29th,
1996, will have legally(法律上) reached 18 years old on March
1st, 2014. If he or she was born in the United States, Taiwan or New
Zealand, his or her legally birthday will come a day earlier.
There is a popular custom in some countries that
a woman may ask a man to marry her on February 29th. If the man
refuses, he then has to give the woman money or buy her a dress.
Since leap days are special days, people
nowadays want to do something different within the 24 extra hours. Big
jumps are the most popular ones.
Some salaried(領(lǐng)薪水的) workers want to get pay for their extra day’s work. But in my opinion, if
you know why there is a leap day, you will get the answer to this problem.
1. The next leap year is .
A.
2014
B. 2016 C. 2018
2. American boy Toby is a leapling. Next year he will probably to have his
birthday party on .
A. February 28th
B. February 29th
C. March 1st
3. Which picture is about popular custom on leap days?
A.
B.
C.
![](http://thumb.zyjl.cn/pic6/res/czyy/web/STSource/2012091200402352625370/SYS201209120041053029130281_ST.files/image003.jpg)
4.. Many people like to have a big jump on leap days probably because .
A. it’s a
custom
B. they are
leaplings
C. leap means jump
5.We can learn from the passage that .
A. 2100 will not be a leap year
B. every year leaplings celebrate their birthday
on either February 28th or March 1st
C. it is necessary to pay the salaried workers for the leap day’s work