用英语说中国的传统文化：十二生肖（双语）
花木兰替父从军的故事In traditional China, dating methods were cyclical means something that is repeated time after time according to a pattern.
梦见死去的奶奶还活着和我说话据中国传统文化，日期是循环的，也就是说，日期的循环是周而复始的。
秋天为主题的画A popular folk method which reflected this cyclical method of recording years are the Twelve Animal Signs.
哼鸣
记录这周而复始日期的最流行的民间方法就是十二生肖。
新手如何养羊
Every year is assigned an animal name or “sign” according to a repeating cycle：Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake,Hor, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or “sign” would reappear.
即：每一年由一个动物代表，每隔十二年进行一个循环。这十二个动物分别是：鼠、牛、虎、兔、 龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗、猪。
A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chine folklore is that horoscopes have developed around the animal signs.
十二生肖在中国民间传说中有其文化内涵，占星术就是由其发展而来的。
For example, a Chine horoscope may predict that a person born in the Year of the Hor would be, “cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others”.
例如，中国的属相认为马年出生的人“快乐、受欢迎、爱恭维他人”。
The animal signs also rve a uful social function for finding out people’s ages.
属相还有助于在社交活动中获悉别人的年龄。
Instead of asking directly how old a person is, people often ask what is his or her animal sign.
为了避免直接问及一个人的年龄，人们通常问他的属相。
This would place that person’s age within a cycle of 12 years，and with a bit of common n, we can deduce the exact age.
这就可以确定他在十二生肖的排位，从而通过常识，计算出他的确切年龄。
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.
三公经费自查报告然而，人们通常问属相并不是要计算一个人的年龄，更多的是在朋友和熟人之间弄明白谁的年龄更大一些。
