Today, February twenty-ninth, is leap day(闰日). This date only appears on the calendar once every four years. But why? Everyone knows the Earth takes three hundred sixty-five days to travel around the sun. Well, that is not exactly correct. The Earth really takes three hundred sixty-five days, five hours, forty-eight minutes and forty-six seconds to complete its orbit around the sun. The problem for people developing calendars was what to do with the extra five hours, forty-eight minutes and forty-six seconds. People needed calendars to help them know when to plant crops and when to celebrate religious holidays. The ancient Greeks and Chinese had a solution. They produced calendars that included extra months every nineteen years. The ancient Romans had a different solution. In the year forty-six, the Roman ruler Julius Caesar made a new calendar. The Julian calendar included an extra day every four years. But there was a problem. The Julian year was just over eleven minutes longer than the cycle of the seasons. In 1582, Pope Gregory the Thirteenth established a new calendar to keep a better recorder of the days. Pole Gregory was the religious leader of most of Europe. He decided that years that could be divided by four would add a day. However, years that ended in two zeros and that could not be evenly divided by four hundred would not be leap years. For example, the years 1700, 1800and 1900 were not leap years. But the years 1600 and 2000 were leap years So leap years are years with three hundred sixty –six days , instead of the usual three hundred sixty –five.This extra days is added to the calendar on February twenty –ninth , sometimes known as leap day .People born on leap day may be called “leapings ”.They usually celebrate their birthday on February twenty –eight or March first . Title: 小题1:
| ||||||||||||||||||||
小题1:Leap Day/ An Extra Day
小题2:A calendar
小题3:Problem
小题4:Solutions
小题5:People
小题6:extra months
小题7:Julius Caesa
小题8:every four years
小题9:by four
小题10:came into being/ began to exist/ was accepted
题目分析：你知道二月二十九日是每四年才会出现一次吗？这一天被叫做闰日。因为历法纪年与地球环绕太阳运行一周的时间有一定的差数，故每隔数年必设闰日或闰月，加以调整。为了解决这个余数，每4年后增加一额外的闰日——即2月29日，本文即讲述了闰日的来历。
小题1:信息归纳题。文章开头提出This date only appears on the calendar once every four years. But why?然后在下文介绍闰日的由来，所以题目为Leap Day/ An Extra Day 。
小题2:信息转换题。根据文章第四段People needed calendars to help them know when to plant crops and when to celebrate religious holidays可知在工作生活中人们需要日历，所以答案填calendars。
小题3:信息查找题。根据文章第三段The problem for people developing calendars ……可知填 Problem。
小题4:信息归纳题。文章第四、五段介绍古希腊人、中国人、古罗马人都想出了不同的解决方法，由此可知此处填Solutions 。
小题5:信息归纳题。根据表格中Ancient Greeks and Chinese可知此空指的是人们，所以填 People 。
小题6:信息查找题。根据第四段 They produced calendars that included extra months every nineteen years.可知人们研制的日历每19年就包括一个额外的月份，所以填 extra months。
小题7:信息查找题。根据文章第五段可知在 Julius Caesar 研制的日历中每四年就多出额外的一天，所以此空填 Julius Caesar。
小题8:信息查找题。由文章第五段The Julian calendar included an extra day every four years.可知，在凯撒大帝制定的儒略历中每四年就包括额外的一天，此空填every four years。
小题9:信息查找题。根据第五段. He decided that years that could be divided by four would add a day可知此空填 by four 。
小题10:信息归纳题。整篇文章讲述闰日的来历，由此可知文章的最后应该是“闰日就这样产生了”，所以答案是 came into being/ began to exist/ was accepted。