I was born on the last day of February. I’ve always
felt sorry for February, squeezed between the big months of January (named for
the Roman god Janus, keeper of gateways) and March (after Mars, the god of
war). The first Roman calendar, legend has it, had 10 months
and no February. Beginning at the vernal equinox (春分) with March, it ended
with December. In an agricultural society, winter was of little importance, and
thus went undivided. January and February were added about 700
B.C. by the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius. He made all the months 29 or 31
days, but shortened February, the last month of the year, by giving it only
28. By the time of Julius Caesar, the calendar was three months
out of sync with the solar year. This prompted Caesar to announce a new calendar
in 46 B.C. Although there is some dispute-some historians say Caesar gave
February 29 days-most believe his calendar preserved a 28-day February (with 29
days only in a leap year). Next, it was the church’s turn. In
1582 Pope Gregory decreed a new
calendar in Europe. Many changes were made, but the Pope passed up yet another
chance to grant February equality with the other months. It’s
messy, even dangerous, changing how we measure time, but Pope Gregory was hardly
the last one to try, The League of Nations received over 150 new calendar
designs, and the United Nations has considered more proposals since. Just to
name a few, there’s the 30×11 Calendar (which supersizes December to 35 or 36
days) and the Kluznickian Cajendar (which adds the month of Aten, after an
Egyptian sun god). Each proposal involves something that supposedly modernizes
the calendar. But I have a simpler proposal that won’t lead to
chaos, and will correct the historical injustices against February: move the
last day of January and the last day of March into February to make it a normal
month with 30 days, and a respectable 3i on leap years. This would not add or
subtract a single day from the calendar year. As an added
benefit, making the first three months of the year each 30 days would bring them
into closer alignment with the lunar cycle. It’s a great idea. And unlike Julius
and Augustus, I won’t even demand a month named in my honor. It is implied in the passage that ______.
A. most people today are not interested in changing the calendar
B. there is no point in changing the current calendar
C. people have been trying to make changes to the calendar
D. it is urgent for us to make improvements to the calendar