美国有线新闻 CNN 公历2020年为闰年 全年共有366天

Which of these historic calendars was created the most recently?

下列哪个历史日历是最近创建的？

Julian calendar, Byzantine calendar, Hebrew calendar, or Gregorian calendar?

儒略历、拜占庭历、希伯来历还是公历？

The Gregorian calendar, which is widely used today was proclaimed in 1582.

现今广泛使用的公历在1582年宣布颁行。

And it includes a date that only comes along every four years — leap day, February 29th. This year that happens to be this Saturday. February ends on the 28th in non-leap years.

公历中包括一个每四年才出现一次的日期——闰日，2月29日。今年的闰日刚好是本周六。平年的2月只有28天。

So why do we have the extra day? It's the earth's fault. On the Gregorian calendar at least, it doesn't complete its orbit in exactly a year.

那为什么会多出一天？这要归结于地球。至少按照公历来说，地球的精准公转周期并不是一年。

GEOFF CHESTER, U.S. NAVAL¹ OBSERVATORY²: It goes around the sun once in 365 and almost a quarter day. Almost but not quite. So, in order to rectify³ this, we have to periodically add an extra day to the calendar.

美国海军天文台研究员杰夫·切斯特：地球绕太阳公转一周的时间是365又四分之一天。这是个大约时间，并不精确。因此，为了纠正误差，我们必须定期在日历上增加一天。

AZUZ: That happens every four years, hence the leap day. And it coincides with presidential election years in the United States.

阿祖兹：这种情况每四年发生一次，因此便有了闰日。这恰好与美国总统选举年份不谋而合。

Besides that though, does it matter that 2020 will have 366 days? Well, those who were born in the leap year on February 29th will actually get to celebrate their birthdays on the 29th instead of on February 28th or March 1st.

除此之外，2020年有366天还有什么重要意义吗？那些在闰年2月29日出生的人能在29日当天庆祝生日了，不必再在2月28日或3月1日庆生。

And there is some interesting history associated with leap years. According to Irish tradition, years with 366 days were years when women could propose to men when it was the other way around in non leap years. Beyond that though, well, you only get to say happy February 29th every four years, so go crazy with that y'all.

有关闰年还有一些有趣的历史。根据爱尔兰传统，在有366天的闰年，女性可以向男性求婚，而平年则要反过来。除此之外，你每隔四年才能说一次2月29日快乐，所以大家尽情狂欢吧。

1 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

2 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

3 rectify   

v.订正，矫正，改正

参考例句：

• The matter will rectify itself in a few days.那件事过几天就会变好。
• You can rectify this fault if you insert a slash.插人一条斜线便可以纠正此错误。