The Chinese calendar contains cycles of twelve years. A different animal represents each year. The first year of the cycle is the year of the rat. After that comes the year of the ox, the year of the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the mon key, the rooster, the dog and the pig. After the pig the cycle begins again.
No one actually knows why the Chinese named the years in honor of these animals but there are several interesting legends which explain the cycle of animals. One story is that once, long ago, a Chinese King invited all the animals to his palace to celebrate the New Year. Only twelve animals accepted the invitation and came to the party. The first animal to arrive was the rat and the next was the ox. The other ten animals came soon after. To reward the animals, the King named a year for each animal.
Now many people say that if a person is born in the year of a certain animal he or she is like that animal. Find the year of your birth on the illustration and then read
Don't be angry if your year is a snake or a horse or a pig. In the Chinese horoscope all the animals are wise and
相关单词：honor
honor解释：n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬
honor例句：
I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。
相关单词：illustration
illustration解释：n.说明，例证；图解，插图
illustration例句：
Illustration by example is better than explanation in words.用实例说明比用词语解释清楚。
He used photographs as illustration for his talk.他用照片为他的演讲作图片说明。
相关单词：dumb
dumb解释：adj.哑的；不会说话的；笨的；愚蠢的
dumb例句：
She is very kind to the dumb children.她对哑童非常好。
It was dumb of you to say that.你说这种话太愚蠢了。
相关单词：evil
evil解释：n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的
evil例句：
We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。
相关单词：alike
alike解释：adj.同样的，相像的；adv.一样地；同程度地
alike例句：
The twins are so alike that I can't tell which is which.这对双胞胎一模一样，我分辨不出谁是谁。
All stories seemed dreadfully alike,no matter who told them.看来，不管谁讲，故事都是千篇一律的。
