A.         Why is 2004 a special year? Because it is a leap year(闰年)! What’s so special about that? Well, leap year happens only once every four years. And it has 366 days instead of the usual 365. In a leap year, we have 29days in February, while in a usual year we have only 28 days.

        Why do we have a leap year? We have a leap year so we can keep the calendar(日历) in step with the seasons. The calendar is a kind of clock for the whole year. But how long is a year? A calendar year is 365 days. However, a true year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds long. That’s the time it takes the earth to travel around the sun. So every four years we have one more day, and we put it at the end of February, the shortest month of a year. Then we have a leap year.