Question

【題目】 What is your zodiac (生肖)animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.

The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics (特點(diǎn)) of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.

Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out (計(jì)算出) roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.

Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese zodiac, a wild boar (野豬) takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese (越南的) zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.

But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent (代表)each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝) invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.

【1】The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____of every person born in that year.

A.appearanceB.personalityC.hobbyD.education

【2】The Japanese zodiac does not include the _____ as a zodiac animal.

A.wild boarB.rabbitC.dragonD.pig

【3】According to the last paragraph, we know that _____ was the first animal to arrive.

A.the oxB.the ratC.the pigD.the cat

【4】The best title for this passage is _____.

A.The story of Chinese New YearB.The story of zodiac animals

C.The story of the Jade EmperorD.The story of people’s birthdays

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】D

【3】B

【4】B

【解析】

本文講述的是12生肖的故事，根據(jù)中國農(nóng)歷12個(gè)動(dòng)物代表著12個(gè)不同的年份，12生肖已經(jīng)世界聞名而且在西方流行開來，十二生肖是中華文化的重要組成部分，也有其社會功能，不僅中國有生肖，其他國家也有，最后還講述了生肖的由來。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。A. appearance“外貌”；B. personality“個(gè)性”；C. hobby“愛好”；D. education“教育”，由文章內(nèi)容“People believe that the characteristics (特點(diǎn)) of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year.”可知，生肖的特點(diǎn)影響那年出生的每個(gè)人的性格，故選B。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由文章內(nèi)容“in the Japanese zodiac, a wild boar (野豬) takes the place of a pig.”可知，在日本wild boar取代了pig，因此在日本生肖中沒有pig，故選D。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由文章內(nèi)容“he ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.”可知，公牛本來第一到達(dá)的，可是老鼠坐在它背上，在它到達(dá)之前先跳了下來，故選B。

【4】主旨大意題。文章內(nèi)容主要是圍繞十二生肖展開，文章開頭“What is your zodiac (生肖)animal?”提出疑問引出下文，并具體展開，故選B。