1.Why do we need leap years?
為什么我們需要閏年？

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.
閏年是對(duì)地球繞太陽(yáng)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)所需時(shí)間和公歷時(shí)間之差所作的調(diào)整。公歷規(guī)定一年有365天，而實(shí)際上地球繞太陽(yáng)公轉(zhuǎn)一周所需的時(shí)間是365天5小時(shí)48分46秒。如果不算上這個(gè)差值的話，那么每四年我們就要少掉一天，所以才有了2月29日。

2.Why February 29?
為什么偏偏是2月29日？

Our calendar is based on the early Roman calendar, which had only 10 months beginning in March.
我們現(xiàn)在使用的公歷是基于早期的羅馬日歷，當(dāng)時(shí)一年只有10個(gè)月，三月份為一年的開始。

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，由第二代羅馬國(guó)王怒馬-龐皮利烏斯加上去的，是為了與陰歷相匹配。因此，二月就成了一年中最后的一個(gè)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，凱撒引進(jìn)了閏年的概念，在一年的最后一個(gè)月加上一天，也就是在二月加上一天。

3.How to calculate a leap year?
如何計(jì)算閏年？

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.
凱撒制定的《儒略歷》規(guī)定每四年一閏。這種方法雖然簡(jiǎn)單，但是與陰歷相比，《儒略歷》會(huì)造成過(guò)多的閏年。于是，在1500年后，一種新的紀(jì)年方法，即現(xiàn)在使用的由羅馬教皇格里高利十三世完善修訂的格里歷。

4.What if you are born on February 29?
你是那個(gè)出生在2月29日的幸運(yùn)兒?jiǎn)幔?/strong>

(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人中有一個(gè)。

(2) 4 million people in the world were born on February 29th.
世界上有約400萬(wàn)人出生在2月29日這天。

5.Leap year records
不可思議的閏年出生記錄

(1) most children born on February 29
在2月29日生過(guò)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女士在連續(xù)的三次2月29日這天分別生下了三個(gè)孩子，她的女兒出生在1960年2月29日，兩個(gè)兒子分別出生在1964年2月29日和1968年2月29日。

(2) most generations born on February 29
祖孫三代都出生在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.
英國(guó)的Keogh一家祖孫三代都出生在2月29日，爺爺出生在1940年2月29日，兒子出生在1964年2月29日，孫女出生在1996年2月29日。

6.You won’t see another February 29 for 1460 days!
你要再過(guò)1460天才會(huì)遇到下一個(gè)2月29日！

7.Custom allows marriage-minded gals to propose to their boyfriends on February 29. Leap Year has been the traditional time that women can propose marriage.
想結(jié)婚的姑娘們，可以在2月29號(hào)向男朋友求婚啦！閏年已經(jīng)成了國(guó)際女性求愛日的傳統(tǒng)。

更多關(guān)于“國(guó)際女性求愛日”的內(nèi)容，請(qǐng)點(diǎn)擊>>>