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.    

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

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Have you heard about 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 than any other month．    1

We also call Leap year the bissextile year．   2    In our calendar system there is a need for a leap year because the so1ar 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．

It is said that 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  However，Caesar’s adjustment was not completely 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 X III 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

People born on Feb 29 they have only one-fourth as many birthday celebrations as most people.

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．They acknowledge that they get older each year.

B．when you see Feb 29 on a calendar, you know that year is a leap year.

C．This is its formal, or scientific title.

D．This may seem complicated, but it works．

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

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

G．This is done every four years.

Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, made full use of the greatest resources of the English Language．Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal employment of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand! There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare uses it．Such a study is well worth the effort, even though some aspects of English usage, and the meaning of many words, have changed since Shakespeare’s day．

         However, it is surprising that we should know comparatively little about the life of the greatest English author．We know that Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, and that he died there in 1616．He almost certainly attended the Grammar School in the town, but of this we cannot be sure．We know he was married there in 1582 to Anne Hathaway and that he had three children．We know that he spent much of his life in London writing his masterpieces．But this is almost all that we do know．

         However, what is important about Shakespeare’s life is not its incidental details but its products, the plays and the poems．For many years scholars have been trying to add a few facts about Shakespeare’s life to the small number we already possess and for an equally long time critics have been theorizing about the plays．Sometimes, indeed, it seems that the poetry of Shakespeare will disappear under the great mass of comment that has been written upon it．

         Fortunately this is not likely to happen．Shakespeare’s people have long delighted not just the English but lovers of literature everywhere, and will continue to do so after the scholars and critics and all their works have been forgotten．

1.This passage is about         ．

A. the great length of each chapter

B. the great varieties in writing styles

C. the richness of the content in Shakespeare’s works

D. the rich English language used by Shakespeare in his works

2. According to the writer, which of the following remains uncertain about Shakespeare?

A. His date of birth

B. His marriage

C. His life in the Grammar School

D. His date of death

3.It can be inferred from Para 3 that           

A. not all the comments on Shakespeare’s works have produced good effects

B. scholars have successfully collected facts about Shakespeare’s life

C. critics are more interested in Shakespeare’s play than his poetry

D. the details of Shakespeare’s life are more important than his literary works

4. What does the last sentence in Para 3 mean ?

A. People don’t think the poetry of Shakespeare good any more．

B. People pay more attention to the comment than the poetry of Shakespeare．

C. People can’t see the poetry of Shakespeare any more．

D. The comment is printed on the poetry of Shakespeare．

Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, made full use of the greatest resources of the English language. Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal use of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand words! There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare uses it. Such a study is well worth the effort, even though some aspects of English usage, and the meaning of many words, have changed since Shakespeare’s day.

However, it is surprising that we should know comparatively little about the life of the greatest English writer. We know that Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, and that he died there in 1616. He almost certainly attended the Grammar School in the town, but of this we cannot be sure. We know he was married there in 1582 to Anne Hathaway and that he had three children. We know that he spent much of his life in London writing his great works. But this is almost all that we do know.

However, what is important about Shakespeare’s life is not its other less important details but its products, the plays and the poems. For many years scholars have been trying to add a few facts about Shakespeare’s life to the small number we already possess and for an equally long time critics (评论家) have been talking about the plays. Sometimes, indeed, it seems that the poetry of Shakespeare will disappear under the great mass of comment (评论) that has been written upon it.

Luckily this is not likely to happen. Shakespeare’s people have long delighted not just the English but lovers of literature everywhere, and will continue to do so after the scholars and critics and all their works have been forgotten.

According to the writer, which of the following remains uncertain about Shakespeare?

  A. His date of birth.                  B. His marriage.

  C. His life in the Grammar School.      D. His date of death.

It can be inferred from Para.3 that ______.

  A. not all the comments on Shakespeare’s works have produced good effects

  B. scholars have successfully collected facts about Shakespeare’s life

  C. critics are more interested in Shakespeare’s plays than his poetry

  D. the details of Shakespeare’s life are more important than his literary works

What does the last sentence in Para.3 mean?

  A. People don’t think the poetry of Shakespeare good any more.

  B. People pay more attention to the comment than the poetry of Shakespeare.

  C. People can’t see the poetry of Shakespeare any more.

  D. The comment is printed upon the poetry of Shakespeare.

“Shakespeare’s people” in Para.4 refers to _______.

  A. the characters in Shakespeare’s products  B. the people whose native language is English

  C. the people living in Shakespeare’s day    D. the readers of Shakespeare’s works