You don't have to be a fan of math to get excited about Pi ("π") Day. While the event, which is also Albert Einstein's birthday. may start with some calculations, it is more likely to conclude with a slice or two of delicious pie. The holiday is held every March 14, because "π" is widely recognized as 3.14.
The tradition of honoring "π" began at San Francisco's Exploratorium Museum. On March 14,1988, physicist Larry Shaw convinced his colleagues to mark the day by marching around one of the museum's circular spaces and consuming fruit pies. The celebration was made official in 2009 when the US House of Representatives set aside March 14 as Pi Day.
Today, Pi Day is observed in many creative ways.
Students at the California Institute of Technology in Los Angeles host a pie-eating event, which begins at 1:59 am and features 26 pies, each of five different flavors of the popular dessert. Though that might seem random, the date (3.14), time (1:59), number of pies (26), and number of varieties (5) recreate the first nine digits of Pi 3.14159265!
Students applying for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston eagerly wait for the day every year to find out if they have been accepted. However, instead of sending out the offers at 3:14 pm, the institution waits till 6:28 pm, as 6. 28 is referred to as Tau, which is Pi multiplied by 2. The number is believed to be much more reliable than Pi by some experts and even has its own celebration on June 28. Since 2017, MIT has also used Pi Day as a fundraiser to support its students, departments and programs.
The town of Princeton, New Jersey, where Einstein lived from 1935 until his death in 1955, celebrates the occasion with multi-day festivities that end on March 14. Visitors can participate in concerts, shows, as well as pie-eating, pi-recitation, and Einstein-lookalike contests.
【小题1】Where was Pi Day originally celebrated?| A．In San Francisco. | B．In Los Angeles. | C．In Cambridge. | D．In Princeton. |
| A．In1955. | B．In1988. | C．In2009. | D．In2017. |
| A．Inform applicants of admission results. | B．Conduct a calculating test. |
| C．Organize a march around the campus. | D．Make desserts of different flavors. |
| A．To instruct. | B．To introduce. | C．To persuade. | D．To explain. |
