十二生肖ChineseZodiacSign

1、The Chinese zodiac signHave you ever been asked by your Chinese friend, uWhat is your zodiac sign? Dont think they are making small talk. If you say, Tm a monkey/ they immediately know you are either 24f 36, 48 or 60 years old. Asking a zodiac sign is a polite way of asking your age.你的中國(guó)朋友有沒有問過你，“您屬

2、什么的？”別以為他們就是隨便聊聊而已。如 果你說：“我屬猴。“他們就會(huì)馬上知道你的年齡，是24還是36亦或者48、60 歲。其實(shí)問你屬相只不過是禮貌性地問你年齡。By revealing your zodiac sign, you are also being evaluated. Judgments are being made about your fortune or misfortune, your personality, career prospects, and how you will do in given year. If you share you and your pa

3、rtners animal sign, they will paint a picture in their mind about your private life. Maybe you dont believe in the Chinese zodiac. As a quarter of the world population is influenced by it. Youd be wise to do something about that.你一旦告訴人家你的屬相，他們就會(huì)下意識(shí)的評(píng)估你，或評(píng)估的運(yùn)氣或不幸，或 評(píng)估你的性格、事業(yè)前景，也或是你接下來的一年內(nèi)會(huì)過得怎樣。如果你把你的

4、 你愛人的屬相都告訴了他們，他們腦海中就會(huì)自動(dòng)浮現(xiàn)你和你愛人生活的場(chǎng)景。 或許你們并不相信中國(guó)的屬相，但這個(gè)世界上至少有四分之一的人口受屬相的影 響，所以建議大家還是至少要了解一點(diǎn)吧。So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? Most westerners think of Greco-Roman zodiac, the signs divided into 12 month. The Chinese zodiac is different. Its a 12- year cycle labeled with animals, starting with

5、a Rat and ending with a Pig, and has no association with constellations. For example, if you were bom in 1975, you are a Rabbit. Our Chinese ancestors constructed a very complicated theoretical framework based on inner yang, the five elements and the 12 zodiac animals.那么，究竟中國(guó)的屬相是個(gè)什么樣的概念呢？可能很多西方人會(huì)首先想

6、到希臘羅 馬星座，以12個(gè)月分別劃分，而中國(guó)屬相則是不同的。以12年為一輪，每一年 以一種動(dòng)物為代表，以鼠開始，以豬結(jié)束.跟星座沒有半毛錢的關(guān)系。舉個(gè)例子， 如果你出生于1975年，你就是屬兔的，大家在圖書可以看到自己的屬相嗎？中 國(guó)人的祖先發(fā)明了一套十分復(fù)雜的理論體系。在這套理論體系中，有陰陽，有五 行，也有十二生肖。Over thousands of years, this popular culture has affected peoples major decisions, such as naming, marriage, giving birth and attitude tow

7、ards each other. And some of the implications are quite amazing. The Chinese believe certain animals get on better than the others. So parents choose specific years to give birth to babies, because they believe the team effort by the right combination of animals can give prosperity to families.在幾千年的

8、歷史長(zhǎng)河中，這種主流文化影響了很多人做重大決定，比如取名字、 結(jié)婚、生孩子以及對(duì)待他人的方式。而這當(dāng)中,有一些由于這些文化而來的含義 非常讓人驚訝。中國(guó)人相信有一些屬相就是比另外的一些屬相要好相處。所以有 的人會(huì)刻意選擇一些特定的年份生孩子，因?yàn)樗麄兿嘈乓患胰水?dāng)中的屬相不能相沖，好的屬相組合可以產(chǎn)生合力，讓家庭昌盛。We even refer to the zodiac when entering into romantic relations. Tm a pig, I should have perfect romance with Tigers, Goats and Rabbits. Ch

9、inese people believe some animals are natural enemies. As a pig, I need to be careful with a Snake.甚至在找對(duì)象的時(shí)候我們也會(huì)考慮屬相的問題。如果我是屬豬的，那么我的理想 的對(duì)象應(yīng)該是老虎、羊和兔子。中國(guó)人認(rèn)為這些屬相的人天生就是敵人，如果是 屬豬的，那么久要當(dāng)心屬蛇的。We believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the Dragon. Unlike the Western tradition, the Chinese

10、dragon is a symbol for power, strength and wealth. Ifs everyones dream to have a Dragon baby. Jack Mas parents must have been very proud. And they are not the only ones. In 2012, the Year of the Dragon, the birthrate in China, Hongkong and Taiwan increased by five percent. That means another one mil

11、lion more babies. With the traditional preference to baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those Dragon boys grow up, they will face much more severe competition in love and job markets.我們認(rèn)為有一些屬相相比別的屬相會(huì)更幸運(yùn)，比如說龍。跟西方的文化不同，在 中國(guó)人眼里，龍象征著權(quán)利、力量以及財(cái)富，所以人人都想生龍寶寶。馬云也是 屬龍的，他的父母應(yīng)該非常驕傲吧。還有很

12、多人也這么想。2012年是龍年，在這一年，中國(guó)大陸、香港和臺(tái)灣的出生率都上升了 5個(gè)百分點(diǎn)，也就意味著多了100萬個(gè)龍寶寶。中國(guó)人傳統(tǒng)意義上都喜歡生男孩，那一年的新生兒男女比例是 120比100。而當(dāng)這些龍寶寶長(zhǎng)大后，他們?cè)诨閼偈袌?chǎng)和就業(yè)市場(chǎng)上的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)想必 肯定要激烈的多。According to the BBC and the Chinese governments press release, January 2015 saw a peak of Cesarean sections. Why? That was the last month for the Year of the Horse

13、. Its not because they like horse so much, ifs because they try to avoid having unlucky Goat babies.根據(jù)BBC和中國(guó)官方媒體,在2015年1月，剖腹產(chǎn)數(shù)量達(dá)到一個(gè)高峰。為什么？ 因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)月是有機(jī)會(huì)生馬寶寶的最后一年，倒也不是因?yàn)橹袊?guó)人有多愛生馬寶寶, 而是以為他們盡量避免生羊?qū)殞?。Tigers is another undesirable animals, due to its volatile temperament. Many Chinese regions saw a sharp decl

14、ine of birthrate during those years. Perhaps one should consider zodiac in reverse, as those Tiger and Goat babies will face much less competition. Maybe they are the lucky ones. I went through the Forbes top 300 richest people in the world, and its interesting to see, the most undesirable two anima

15、ls, the Goat and Tiger, are at the top of the chart, even higher than the Dragon. So maybe we should consider, maybe its much better to have less competition.老虎也不是很受歡迎，因?yàn)槔匣⑿郧槎嘧?。在中?guó)很多地方，出生率在虎年都有 急劇的下降?；蛟S，人們應(yīng)該反過來想，虎寶寶和羊?qū)殞氁院箝L(zhǎng)大可能面臨的競(jìng) 爭(zhēng)要小呢。我查閱了福布斯財(cái)富榜全球最富有的300個(gè)人的名單，發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)有趣 的事實(shí)，最不受歡迎的兩個(gè)屬相，羊和虎，富有的人樹拍到了前兩名，比龍

16、還要 高，所以，或許我們應(yīng)該這么想，競(jìng)爭(zhēng)少一點(diǎn)是好事。One last interesting point: many Chinese people make their investment decisions based on the zodiac sign index. Although the belief and tradition of the zodiac sign has been over thousands of years, the trend of using it in making major decisions did not really happen unti

17、l the past few decades. Our ancestors were very busy surviving poverty, drought famine, riot, disease and civil war. And finally, Chinese people have the time, wealth and technology to create an ideal life they ve always wanted. The collective decision made by 1.3 billion people has caused the fluctuation in economics and demand on everything, from health care and education to property and consumer goods. As China plays such an important role in the global economy and geopolitics, the decisions made based on the zodiac and other Chinese traditions end up impacting everyone around the worl