中國傳統文化 第3期:十二生肖

The Twelve Animal Signs

十二生肖

In traditional China, dating methods were cyclical means something that is repeated time after time according to a pattern.

據中國傳統文化，日期是循環的，也就是說，日期的循環是周而復始的。

A popular folk method which reflected this cyclical method of recording years are the Twelve Animal Signs.

記錄這周而復始日期的最流行的民間方法就是十二生肖。

Every year is assigned an animal name or “sign” according to a repeating cycle： Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake,Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar.

Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or “sign” would reappear.

即：每一年由一個動物代表，每隔十二年進行一個循環。這十二個動物分別是：鼠、牛、虎、兔、 龍、蛇、馬、羊、猴、雞、狗、豬。

A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chinese folklore is that horoscopes have developed around the animal signs.

十二生肖在中國民間傳說中有其文化內涵，占星術就是由其發展而來的。

For example, a Chinese horoscope may predict that a person born in the Year of the Horse would be, “cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others”.

例如，中國的屬相認爲馬年出生的人“快樂、受歡迎、愛恭維他人”。

The animal signs also serve a useful social function for finding out people’s ages.

屬相還有助於在社交活動中獲悉別人的年齡。

Instead of asking directly how old a person is, people often ask what is his or her animal sign.

爲了避免直接問及一個人的年齡，人們通常問他的屬相。

This would place that person’s age within a cycle of 12 years，and with a bit of common sense, we can deduce the exact age.

這就可以確定他在十二生肖的排位，從而通過常識，計算出他的確切年齡。

More often, people ask for animal signs not to compute a person's exact numerical age, but to simply know who is older among friends and acquaintances.

然而，人們通常問屬相併不是要計算一個人的年齡，更多的是在朋友和熟人之間弄明白誰的年齡更大一些。