spring festival1.docVIP

十二生肖---“the Chinese Zodiac” 金猪年--- golden tiger year”/ “the Year of the (golden)?Tiger” 春运--- Track during Spring Festival 春晚--- “Spring Festival Gala” It is said Buddha (the ultimate Emperor for the whole universe in Chinese legend) once called together all the animals on the earth for an important meeting. Only twelve animals turned up: the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig. The rat, being the smartest, jumped on top of the ox to be the first one to arrive. As a reward, the Buddha gave each animal a year in the cycle and declared that anyone born in that year would resemble the animal in some way. In addition, each two hours of the day is also governed by one animal. The hours of 11pm to 1:00 am is by Rat, from 1 am to 3 am by Ox and so on. Six elements of the planet: wood, fire, air, water, gold and earth are also integrated into the animal Zodiac signs. “Zodiac”一词来自希腊语“zodiakos”（动物园） Horoscope/Configuration of the stars星相 Astrology:占星术 In the ancient Chinese calendar, the 28 constellation are arranged in the order of the sun, the moon, fire or the Mars, water or the Mercury, wood or the Jupiter, metal or the Venus and earth or the Saturn in a seven-day cycle dubbed 搒even stars? which coincides with the 搒even-day week?in the Western calendar. Thus the seven-day period becomes a measurement unit for work, study and rest according to the international practice, and it is called 搘eek? Im a pig, my son is a rabbit, I have snakes for daughters, and my wife, believe it or not, is a dragon! Do I live in a zoo? No, of course not! I am talking about our Chinese zodiac signs. Depending on the year of your birth, each person has an animal for a sign. Thats why I am a pig and my wife is a dragon. February the 18th is Chinese New Year and 2007 is the year of the pig, so lets take a closer look at this interesting animal. Pigs were first domesticated by man about 9,000 yea