英语爱好者 - englishforus (分享英语)

Chinese Horoscope 中国生肖

The Chinese astrology占星术 is based upon the Chinese Lunar Calendar中国阴历,农历. Similar to the Western astrology, the Chinese astrology uses 12 different signs to define basic categories of human beings, using the person's birth date as the basis. While the Western zodiac黄道十二宫图 is monthly, the Chinese zodiacs are yearly.

中国的占星是根据农历，跟西洋的占星很类似。中国的占星是以人的生日日期作为基础，用 12 种不同的动物去象征人的种类。西方的占星是月份，而中国是年度的。

The origins of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiacs are unclear. However, one of the most popular and interesting legends claims that the Jade Emperor玉皇大帝, the supreme Taoist deity, organized a race to determine who is going to be the head of the cycle of years. The first 12 animals to cross the selected river would represent the 12 cyclical循环的 orders of years on the Lunar Calendar.

中国占星的 12 种动物起源并不清楚，然而，有一种最有趣的说法流传在民间。传说玉皇大帝，最崇高的道家人物，举办一个比赛来决定谁可以当每一年的代表动物。最先跨过指定的河流抵达终点的那 12 种动物就代表农历年的 12 种顺序。

All the animals gathered at the riverbank and got ready for the race. Out of generosity, the Ox offered to let two poor swimmers, the Cat and the Rat, to ride on its back during the race. As soon as the race had started, the Rat pushed the Cat into the river and stayed at the Ox's ear throughout the rest of the race. Just right before the Ox was about to land as the winner of the race, the Rat jumped ashore and stole the first place from his carrier. The order of arrivals of the animals formed the zodiac system, as shown below.

所有的动物都在河堤准备起跑，为了表现出大方，一只公牛让两只不太会游泳的动物，也就是猫和老鼠，在比赛期间骑在它背上。就在比赛开始时，老鼠把猫推进河里，继续留在牛的耳朵上。就在公牛准备抵岸的一刻，老鼠跳上岸并且夺取了第一名的位子，留下公牛成为第二名。动物抵达的先后次序，由下表显示。

The Chinese believe that the ruling animal of the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on his personality. Similar to the Western horoscopes, the Chinese zodiac signs are used in Feng Shui as a tool to predict the future of a person. Click on your sign for your Chinese horoscope.

中国人相信在人们所属的生肖动物会影响人的个性，这跟西方的星座很类似，中国的生肖是用在风水，是一种可以预测一个人的未来的工具。点一下你的出生年份来看你是什么生肖。

The animal signs also serve as a useful social function for determining people's age without asking them directly. By knowing the zodiac sign of a person, and with a bit of common sense, we can deduce his/her exact age.

生肖也是个有用的社会功能，可以确定人的年龄而不用直接问他们。知道一个人的生肖，再加上一点基本的常识，就可以推断出他她的正确年龄。

（熊：我属鸡，你呢？关于各个生肖标志的详细介绍，请点击下图查看相关网页。）