去掉八月August, Let us Get Rid of It_大学英语阅读

去掉八月August, Let us Get Rid of It

在北半球，八月份是一个人们普遍觉得酷暑难当的季节，那么，如果让八月份消失，那会怎样呢？

August is the month of vagueness[1]. Does it have 30 days or 31? You have to recite the rhyme to figure that one out.[2]

Calendars are always fluxing.[3] August itself was a whimsical[4] invention. In 46 B.C., as part of a broad calendar change, Julius Caesar added two days to Sextilis, an old 29-day month.[5] In the reign of his successor, Augustus Caesar, the Senate voted to change Sextilis’ name to “Augustus” (as the Senate under Julius Caesar had renamed the month before, “Quintilis,” “Julius”).[6]

August is the Mississippi[7] of the calendar. It’s beastly hot and muggy.[8] It has a dismal[9] history. Nothing good ever happens in it.

August is when the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when Anne Frank was arrested, when the first income tax was collected, when Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe died.[10]

August is the time when thugs and dictators think they can get away with it.[11] World War I started in August 1914. The Nazis and Soviets signed their nonaggression pact in August 1939.[12] Iraq invaded Kuwait[13] Aug. 2, 1990. August is a popular month for coups[14] and violent crime. Why August? Perhaps the villains assume we’ll be too distracted by vacations or humidity to notice.[15]