Today, February twenty-ninth, is leap day(闰日)...

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:________1.________

高三英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析

--- What is the date today?

--- It's _________.

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

— Good day, Nanjing Senior High School . This is Fangjie speaking. How may I help you today?

— Oh… uh, I ______ Changzhou NO.1 Senior High School . Sorry about that.

A. looked for　　 　　 B. am looking for

C. was looking for　 D. have been looking for

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Feb. 29, or Leap Day, arrives on your calendar once every four years—and 2020 is one of them. The reason there are 366 days every four years instead of the standard 365 is that the calendar doesn't precisely line up since the Earth orbits the sun in approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Hence, every 4 years a leap day, February 29th, has to be added to correct for the difference.

It's not a federally recognized holiday, but Leap Day is a special occasion, so retailers typically offer many sales, deals and discounts. From food to travel deals, here are 29 Leap Day 2020 discounts.

●Hard Rock Café: Customers with a Leap Day birthday receive a free entrée from the restaurant's Leaplings Eat Free menu with a valid photo ID.

●Dog Hans: Enjoy a free upgrade from a single to a double burger on Feb. 29, which will save you $2.49.

●Legal Sea Foods: Get two 1-pound lobsters and two sides at any of the East Coast eatery's 30 non-airport locations for $29(over a $50 value) on Feb. 29.

●Big Frog Custom T-Shirts ＆More: Get a free Leap Year 2020 T-shirt at any of the retailers participating locations on Feb. 29—no purchase required.

●Foot Locker: Save 15 percent on purchases of $70 or more through Feb. 29.

●Expedia: Save up to 29 percent off select hotels worldwide with reservations made on the Expedia mobile app on or before Feb. 29. Some restrictions apply.

●Avis: Take $25 off the cost of a weekly car rental with code MUWA169 through March 30.

●Marriott: Enjoy up to 20 percent in savings when you use code ADP to book a room in advance through March 19.

1.Why is there an extra day in February 2020?

A.To remain in line with the true astronomical year.

B.To officially celebrate a special occasion.

C.To pass down a time-honored tradition.

D.To offer a business promotional opportunity.

2.How much will you pay for a pair of shoes priced at $100 on Feb. 29?

A.$15. B.$85.

C.$75. D.$70.

3.Which of the following offers discounts beyond Feb. 29?

A.Dog Hans. B.Legal Sea Foods.

C.Expedia. D.Marriott.

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填人空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Leap Year

Leap year is a year that has 366 days instead of the usual 365．It normally occurs every four years, always on an even-numbered year．The extra day is added to our shortest month．That is the second month of the year, which in non-leap years has 28 days, two fewer that any other month．________1.________

Leap year is also called the bissextile year．________2.________ In our calendar system there is a need for a leap year because the solar year （the time it takes the earth to go around the sun once） is actually slightly more than 365 days long．That extra day—Feb．29 every four years—helps correct the difference between our calendar and the solar calendar．

Leap year was first made part of the calendar by the ancient Roman leader Julius Caesar．His astronomers had calculated the length of the solar year to be 365 days and six hours．So Caesar declared that an extra day be added to the calendar． ________3.________

Caesar's adjustment, however, was not entirely accurate because his astronomers' year exceeded the true solar year by eleven minutes and fourteen seconds．By 1582, a difference of ten days had developed between the calendar year and the true solar year．To correct this error, Pope Gregory XIII ruled that every fourth year would continue to be a leap year except for century years that could not be divided evenly by 400．By this system, century years such as 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but the year 2000 was a leap year．________4.________

Persons born on Feb．29 celebrate their growing up a little differently from the rest of us．________5.________ But if they go strictly by the calendar, they have only one-fourth as many birthday celebrations as most people．

A．This is done every four years．

B．This is its formal, or scientific title．

C．This may seem complicated, but it works．

D．They acknowledge that they get older each year．

E．The leap year was introduced in the Julian calendar in 46 BC．

F．When you see Feb．29 on a calendar, you know that year is a leap year．

G．In a leap year, the extra day is added to the second month, giving it 29 instead of the usual 28 days

高三英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析

With the summer coming, May 19th was the ideal date to ______ China’s National Tourism Day. This year’s theme was “Beautiful China: Relaxing and Tourist Friendly”.

A．reflect            B．make             C．represent         D．mark

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.What date is it today probably?

A.July 7. B.July 10. C.July 17.

2.What is the third energy source the speakers will probably choose?

A.Solar. B.Nuclear. C.Wind.

3.What information will the speakers remove from the presentations?

A.The background. B.The diagrams. C.The statistics.

高三英语长对话中等难度题查看答案及解析

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.What is the date today?

A. October 22nd.　　 B. October 23rd.　　 C. October 24th.

2.How old is the United Nations in 2017?

A. 72 years.　　 B. 52 years.　　 C. 62 years.

高三英语长对话或独白中等难度题查看答案及解析

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.What's the date today?

A.August 17th. B.August 27th. C.September 5th.

2.Why is the woman going to China?

A.To be on business. B.To take a vacation. C.To visit her relatives.

3.What surprises the woman?

A.Amanda's visit. B.The first-class flight. C.An amazing travel book.

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Each year on February 2nd, there is special festival called Groundhog Day (土拨鼠日 )' forecasting event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. When it comes, people from around the world, including 5,000 in the small town today, watch this tongue-twisting(发音饶舌的) small town for a sign from one groundhog that supposedly predicts when that years' spring will arrive.

If it's a cloudy day outside when the groundhog pops from its cave, then spring will arrive early that year. However, if it is sunny outside, the groundhog will supposedly be scared by its own shadow, hiding underground for six more weeks of cold weather.

Of course, Punxsutawney Phil's prediction is no more able to guarantee the extended forecast than your local weatherman. ABC News reports that an analysis by the National Climate Data Center found that Phil's predictions are more often wrong than right.

Philis is also found to have made some unpleasant predictions. Ever since 1887, he has predicted 99 extended winters and just 16 early springs .Nine of the years' predictions were unavailable, according to ABC.

The holiday began as a German tradition in 18th century and became even more of a cultural phenomenon after the 1993 film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.

Punxsutawney Phil has become a celebrity in his own right.  Each year, the fatter animal with long teeth is watched by millions as he emerges from a cave in the town he is named after. Phil has become so beloved by the town that he actually lives in the local library with his “wife" Phyllis.

Taking inspiration from the hard state of Bill Murray’s character in the classic film, Yahoo contributor Owen Rust says Groundhog Day is a good time to reflect on one’s routines.

1.The underlined word “pops” means “ ________”.

A. escapes                                     B. appears                            C. increases                       D. hides

2.The reason why Phil's predictions aren't pleasing is that_____________.

A. some of the predictions were unavailable

B. Phil wants to do that for fun

C. Phil likes to make unpleasant predictions

D. he has predicted more late springs

3.How does Punxsutawney Phil become a celebration?

A. By an accident.

B. From people's life improving.

C. By his own attractive force

D. From much money raised by the town.

4.Which does this passage mainly talk about?

A. The National Climate Data Center

B. A German tradition

C. A tongue-twisting small town

D. Groundhog Day weather forecasting

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