双语阅读:“2月29日”你不知道的6件事mmres(2012/2/29 17:42:55) 点击:
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183.* * * 1.Why do we need leap years?
为什么我们需要闰年?
Leap years are necessary to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. Since our calendar has exactly 365 days in a year, we would lose almost six hours from our calendar every year if we did not add February 29 to every fourth year.
闰年是对地球绕太阳运转所需时间和公历时间之差所作的调整。公历规定一年有365天,而实际上地球绕太阳公转一周所需的时间是365天5小时48分46秒。如果不算上这个差值的话,那么每四年我们就要少掉一天,所以才有了2月29日。
2.Why February 29?
为什么偏偏是2月29日?
Our calendar is based on the early Roman calendar, which had only 10 months beginning in March.
我们现在使用的公历是基于早期的罗马日历,当时一年只有10个月,三月份为一年的开始。
January and February were added around 700 BCE by Numa Pompilius to reflect a lunar calendar; this made February the last month of the year.
一月和二月是在公元前700年左右,由第二代罗马国王怒马-庞皮利乌斯加上去的,是为了与阴历相匹配。因此,二月就成了一年中最后的一个月份了。
Julius Caesar introduced Leap Years around 45BCE by adding one day to the last month of the calendar year, February.
公元前458年,凯撒引进了闰年的概念,在一年的最后一个月加上一天,也就是在二月加上一天。
3.How to calculate a leap year?
如何计算闰年?
Caesar declared that every year evenly divisible by four would be a leap year. While simple, this rule actually created too many leap years to keep the Roman and lunar calendars aligned. More than 1500 years later, a new formula was introduced with the Gregorian Calendar, which we still use today.
凯撒制定的《儒略历》规定每四年一闰。这种方法虽然简单,但是与阴历相比,《儒略历》会造成过多的闰年。于是,在1500年后,一种新的纪年方法,即现在使用的由罗马教皇格里高利十三世完善修订的格里历。
4.What if you are born on February 29?
你是那个出生在2月29日的幸运儿吗?
(1) There is 1 in 1461 the chances of being born on leap day.
出生在2月29日的概率是每1461人中有一个。
(2) 4 million people in the world were born on February 29th.
世界上有约400万人出生在2月29日这天。
5.Leap year records
不可思议的闰年出生记录
(1) most children born on February 29
在2月29日生过最多小孩的人
Mrs. Karin Henriksen (Norway) gave birth to 3 children on consecutive Leap Days;her daughter in 1960 and her sons in 1964 and 1968.
挪威的Karin女士在连续的三次2月29日这天分别生下了三个孩子,她的女儿出生在1960年2月29日,两个儿子分别出生在1964年2月29日和1968年2月29日。
(2) most generations born on February 29
祖孙三代都出生在2月29日
In the Keogh family (Ireland and Great Britain), the father was born on Leap Day, 1940, the son in 1964 and the granddaughter in 1996.
英国的Keogh一家祖孙三代都出生在2月29日,爷爷出生在1940年2月29日,儿子出生在1964年2月29日,孙女出生在1996年2月29日。
6.You won’t see another February 29 for 1460 days!
你要再过1460天才会遇到下一个2月29日!