Available Answers

1. 1.

   A Leaping Birthday

   Salma was the only Class 5 student in her school with just two candles on her birthday cake. She liked to tell people that her younger brother was eight and her younger sister was five, just to see the confused looks on their faces. They would scratch their heads and wonder how it was possible. She would also say things like, "I was three years old before I had my first birthday"

   Some children would ask her what she meant. She enjoyed explaining things to them.

   "I was born on 29 February, 1996" she would say. "That's a leap-year day. The next leap year didn't come until 2000, so that was my first birthday." She explained that a leap year has 366 days instead of 365 days. A leap year is any year that can be evenly divided by four.

   When an actual birthday came around, it was a very important occasion. She celebrated every year, of course, but had to do it either on 28 February or 1 March. Neither felt really right. But every four years she got to celebrate on her actual birthday. And this was one of those years.

   Salma planned a big party in her garden. There would be plenty of room to play leapfrog.

   1. Complete these sentences.
      1. Salma was the only Class 5 student who _______________ birthday cake.
      2. She would confuse her classmates by saying _________________.
      3. A leap year has ________________ days. It comes every ________________ years.
      4. Salma celebrated her actual birthday on __________________.
2. 2.

   Why did Salma say that she was three years old before her first birthday?

3. 3.

   What is a leap year?

4. 4.

   When did Salma celebrate her birthday every year?

5. 5.

   Why was Salma's actual birthday an important occasion? How did she celebrate that day?

6. 6.

   List all the leap years from the year 2000 to 2020. How many leap years are there? Give another suitable title to the passage.