填空题
The Chinese calendar contains cycles of 12 years, each of which is represented by a different animal. 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 monkey, the rooster (鸡), the dog and the pig. After the pig the cycle begins again.
No one actually knows why the Chinese named the year in honor of these animals, but there are several interesting legends (传说) which explain the cycle of animals.
One story goes that once, long ago, a Chinese King invited all the animals to his palace to celebrate the New Year. Only 12 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 10 animals came soon one after another. To reward the animals, the King named a year for each of them.
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 about the animal your year is named for. Don’t be angry if your year is a snake, a horse or a pig. In the Chinese horoscope (占星图) all the animals are wise and important. No animal of the horoscope is considered dumb or ugly or evil. The Chinese symbols or characters in the centre of the illustration mean "birth" and "alike". They are pronounced Sheng and Xiao in Chinese.