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Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't 1 it to be blue - the name has nothing to 2 the color of our closest celestial（天体） neighbor.

A full moon 3 on December 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.

"If you're in Times Square, you'll see the 4 moon right above you. It's going to be that brilliant," said Jack Horkheimer, director emeritus of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of a weekly astronomy TV show.

The New Year's Eve blue moon will be 5 in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up 6 New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.

However, the Eastern Hemisphere can celebrate with a partial lunar eclipse（月蚀） on New Year's Eve when 7 of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The 8 will not be visible in the Americas.

A full moon occurs 9 29.5 days, and most years have 12. 10 , an extra full moon in a month - a blue moon - occurs every 2.5 years. The 11 time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't 12 again until 2028.

Blue moons have no astronomical 13 , said Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"`Blue moon' is just a 14 in the same sense as a `hunter's moon' or a `harvest moon,'" Laughlin said in an e-mail.

The popular definition of blue moon 15 after a writer for Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 misunderstood the Maine Farmer's Calendar and marked a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the calendar 16 a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, not the usual three.

Though Sky & Telescope corrected the 17 decades later, the definition caught on. For purists（语言纯正癖者）, however, this New Year's Eve full moon doesn't even qualify as a 18 moon. It's just the first full moon of the winter season.

In a tongue-in-cheek essay 19 on the magazine's Web site this week, senior contributing editor Kelly Beatty wrote: "If skies are clear when I'm 20 celebrating, I'll take a peek（眯着眼睛看） at that brilliant orb（天体） as it rises over the Boston skyline to see if it's an icy shade of blue. Or maybe I'll just howl."

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( ) 2. A. deal with B. do with C. develop with D. form into

( ) 3. A. occurred B. came C. ran D. went

( ) 4. A. full B. half C. bright D. part

( ) 5. A. out of sight B. visible C. big D. clear

( ) 6. A. until B. when C. before D. since

( ) 7. A. part B. all C. any D. none

( ) 8. A. moon B. eclipse C. sun D. shadow

( ) 9. A. each B. every C. either D. all

( ) 10. A. On the whole B. Generally speaking C. On average D. In addition

( ) 11. A. last B. next C. other D. another

( ) 12. A. go B. see C. come D. look

( ) 13. A. point B. evident C. theory D. significance

( ) 14. A. name B. object C. phenomenon D. tradition

( ) 15. A. created B. came about C. made D. copied

( ) 16. A. named B. called C. introduced D. defined

( ) 17. A. error B. name C. reality D. number

( ) 18. A. blue B. red C. yellow D. grey

( ) 19. A. published B. posted C. printed D. written

( ) 20. A. in B. out C. away D. on