第 112 期. What s the point of a leap year? 閏年存在的意義?

Transcription

1 OELM 語言學習電子報 第 112 期 What s the point of a leap year? 閏年存在的意義? Daniel is an 11 th grade high school student. When people ask him his age, he answers, I m four years old, fighting to hold back the smirk on his face, but insisting that he is serious. That s because Daniel is a leaper. Daniel 是一名 11 年級的高中生 當人們問起他的年紀, 他的回答是 : 我 四歲 他努力藏住臉上的笑容, 但依然堅持他是認真的 那是因為 Daniel 是閏年生 To understand what a leaper is, we must first talk about leap years. The world has many calendars, or ways to record the passing of days in a year, but none are perfect. The Gregorian calendar, the mostly commonly used one and the one that you are probably most familiar with, is off by 0.002%. That is, a perfect year cannot be measured in a whole number of days. But since we count a year with an exact 365 days, years will drift over time with respect to which events should occur when. If we didn t adjust our calendar to make up for this, then after 100 years, the date would be ahead by 24 days! 想要了解閏年生為何, 我們必須先聊聊閏年 這個世界有許多曆法, 或許多方法紀錄每一年度過的每一 天, 但沒有一種是完美無誤的 公曆 ( 格列高曆 ) 是使用最廣的一種, 也可能是你最熟悉的一種, 有 0.002% 的錯誤值 也就是說, 完整的一年也不是完整的 365 天 但既然我們是以一年 365 天來計算, 至於哪個節 日應該在何時, 每年略微不同 假如我們沒有調整曆法來補充這部分, 那一百年後, 日期就會提早 24 天! The way we adjust our calendar is by adding an extra day once every four years. The day we add is February 29, and when this year comes, it is called a leap year. Years when we don t do this are called common years. The reason we call it a leap year is that the annual progression of weekdays will skip a day. For example, Christmas was on Monday in 2017, will be on Tuesday in 2018, and Wednesday in But in 2020 (the next leap year), it will skip a day or leap to Friday rather than Thursday. 我們調整日曆的方法就是每四年額外增加一天 我們增加的那天就是 2 月 29 日, 這一年就叫做閏年 其他沒有閏日的幾年都稱作平年 我們之

2 所以會用 leap 這字來替代 閏 是因為每次節日前進都會跳過一天 舉例來說,2017 年的聖誕節是星 期一,2018 年就會是星期二,2019 年就會是星期三 但在 2020 年 ( 下個閏年 ), 就會跳過一天, 或跳到週五 而非週四 So this brings us to the interesting occurrence of when a person is born on February 29 of a leap year. Called leapers or leaplings, these people only get to celebrate their birthday once every four years. That s why Daniel was (just about) able to keep a straight face when he claimed that he really was only four years old. What leapers really do, usually, is shift their birthday a day earlier in common years so they can keep adding up their real age. 因此有人在閏年 2 月 29 日出生時就造成這件有趣的事件 我們稱他們會閏年子, 這些人每四年慶祝一次 生日 這就是 Daniel 說他其實只有四歲時還能擺出認真的表情的原因所在 閏年子能做甚麼, 通常就是 將他們的生日在平年時換成早一天, 因此他們就能增加真實的年紀 Vocabulary 好字精選 1. smirk (n) a silly or conceited smile 嘻嘻笑 Owen had a smirk on his face after he made the rude comment, but nobody else thought it was funny. Owen 在做出了一種無禮的回應後, 自己嘻嘻竊笑, 但沒有人覺得很有趣 2. insist (v) to maintain or try to convince others that something you said is true 堅持 ; 堅決認為 The host insisted that all the food was homemade, even though they knew some of it was bought premade. 這位主人堅持所有的食物都要手作, 儘管他們知道有一些是買現成的 3. drift (v) to move slowly in a certain direction 漂, 漂流 The ship drifted off toward the horizon. 這艘船朝地平線的方向漂流 4. progression (n) the moving forward of something, such as time 前進, 繼續 In was amazing for the parents to watch their child s progression from a dependent child to an independent adult. 對於父母來說, 看到他們的小孩從一個依靠他人的小孩往獨立自主的大人邁進是一個很令人吃驚的事情 5. occurrence (n) event, when something occurs 發生 ; 出現 Murder is not a common occurrence in Japan. 謀殺在日本沒有很常出現 Phrases and Sentence Patterns 句型解析 1. hold back (phrasal verb) to try to stop something 保留 ; 抑制 Katelyn tried to hold back her tears when she heard the deer had been shot. Katelyn 在聽到小鹿被射殺時, 她試著忍住淚水

3 2. that is (to say) (phr) in other words 確定地說 It s already 1 am, that is to say, it is time for us to go home. 現在已經凌晨一點了, 也就是說, 我們到了該回家的時間了 3. with respect to (phr) in regards to 關於, 至於 ; 就 而言 With respect to the proposed budget change, we still need to discuss it further. 對於提出的預算更動案, 我們還是需要討論的更詳細些 4. make up for (phr) to do something because it was missed or not done at an earlier time 彌補, 補償 Peter has to go to school on Saturday to make up for the day off he had last week. Peter 必須要在星期六時去學校補課, 補他上禮拜的休假日 平台的特色 提供英日文數位化的學習和測驗資源簡單的操作介面, 讓學習者學習更有效率實用的後台功能, 讓管理更加方便支援 PC MAC IOS 安卓作業系統使用目前已有上百所的學校使用, 提供客戶最好和專業的服務 版權宣告 本內容版權為驊鉅數位科技有限公司所擁有, 未經授權請勿作商業使用 轉載時請勿修改圖片文字內容等資訊, 並保留版權宣告的相關訊息, 否則將視為侵權使用 Huachu Digital Technology Limited Company. All Rights Reserved. Please do not change any contents and information when you forward this newsletter, and keep all messages of COPYRIGHT. Or you will infringe the rights of Huachu Digital Technology Limited Company.

4 OELM 語言學習電子報 第 112 期 The Mystery of the Assassination of Olof Palme 奧洛夫 帕爾梅神秘暗殺事件 The assassination of a country leader is always a shock to that country s people. But it was especially shocking when it happened in Sweden, a country that is considered one of the safest in the world. 一個國家的領導人的暗殺事件總是震驚全國人民 但當這件事發生在一 個被認為是世上最安全的國家之一瑞典, 特別令人震驚 February 28, 1986 was a cold winter night in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Olof Palme, the country s prime minister, was walking home from the cinema with his wife. At 11:21 pm, a man approached Palme and shot him in the back. A second shot hit his wife. His wife survived, but Palme was dead on arrival at the hospital 年 2 月 28 日在瑞典首都斯德哥爾摩一個寒冷的夜晚 國家首相奧洛夫 帕爾梅 (Olof Palme) 正和太太 從電影院走回家的路上 晚間 11:21, 一名男子接近帕爾梅, 從背後射殺 第二槍傷及他的太太 第一夫 人活下來了, 但帕爾梅卻在抵達醫院時死亡 Palme had been the leader of his country for over 10 years and was loved by his people. He was known for standing up to superpowers such as the US. After he was killed, the police tried in vain to find the killer. Over 100 people confessed to the crime, but all of them were lying. Then in 1988, the police arrested Christer Petterson for the crime. It seemed that they had the right guy, but in the end the evidence wasn t strong enough and he was released. 帕爾梅就任國家元首已有十年之久, 深受人民愛戴 他因挺身反抗如美國 這些強權而聲名大噪 在他死後, 警方試圖找尋兇手無功 超過一百人承 認犯下這起惡罪, 但所有人都在說謊 之後在 1988 年, 警方逮捕克里斯 特 佩特松 (Christer Petterson) 警方似乎抓到真正的兇手, 但最後因證據不 足而被釋放 Today, we still don t know for sure who killed Olof Palme, making it one of the most mysterious assassinations in modern history. 今日, 我們依然不確定是誰殺了奧洛夫 帕爾梅, 而成為現代歷史上最神秘的暗殺事件

5 Vocabulary 好字精選 1. assassination (n) the planned murder of an important/famous person 暗殺 The murder of JFK is one of the most famous assassinations in history. 約翰 F 甘迺迪 (JFK) 謀殺案是歷史上最出名的謀殺案之一 2. prime minister (n) the head of a country such as in Canada or Australia 首相 Justin Trudeau, the current prime minister of Canada, is the son of Pierre Trudeau, who was the prime minister from 賈斯丁 杜魯道 (Justin Trudeau), 是現任加拿大首相, 也是就任 1968 年至 1984 年的首相皮耶 杜魯道 (Pierre Turdeau) 之子 3. cinema (n) movie theater 電影院 Jackie and Alan went to the cinema on their first date. Jackie 和 Alan 的第一次約會是去電影院 4. superpower (n) a very powerful country 強權 China has become one of the world s great superpowers. 中國已經成為世界強權國家之一 5. confess (v) to admit to a crime 告解, 告白, 承認, 坦白 The man still hasn t confessed to the murder, even though many people saw him do it. 這位男士依舊不承認犯下了這起謀殺案, 儘管有許多人目睹他犯案 Phrases and Sentence Patterns 句型解析 1. on arrival (phr) at the time of arrival 到達時 Your driver will be waiting for you on arrival at the airport. 你的司機會在你抵達機場時幫你接機 2. stand up to (phr) to put up a fight against sb., usually because you feel they are doing something wrong 經得起, 勇於面對 Howard never dares to stand up to his parents when he is in trouble. Howard 闖禍時, 一直都不敢面對他的父母 3. S + V + in vain (sentence pattern) S does sth. unsuccessfully 徒勞無功, 無用地 The teacher tried in vain to get the students to be quiet. 這位老師試著要讓學生們安靜, 但卻徒勞無功 4. for sure (phr, informal) with certainty, definitely 確定地, 無疑地 Katelyn didn t know for sure whether she would go to the party that weekend. Katelyn 還不是很確定是否會去參加這週末的派對

6 平台的特色 提供英日文數位化的學習和測驗資源 簡單的操作介面, 讓學習者學習更有效率實用的後台功能, 讓管理更加方便支援 PC MAC IOS 安卓作業系統使用目前已有上百所的學校使用, 提供客戶最好和專業的服務 版權宣告 本內容版權為驊鉅數位科技有限公司所擁有, 未經授權請勿作商業使用 轉載時請勿修改圖片文字內容等資訊, 並保留版權宣告的相關訊息, 否則將視為侵權使用 Huachu Digital Technology Limited Company. All Rights Reserved. Please do not change any contents and information when you forward this newsletter, and keep all messages of COPYRIGHT. Or you will infringe the rights of Huachu Digital Technology Limited Company.