Question

What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（農(nóng)歷）, 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 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 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 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. appearance B. personality

C. hobby D. education

2.“What is your zodiac animal?” is a question used to find out a person’s______.

A. age B. name

C. job D. weight

3.In the Japanese zodiac, we don’t see the zodiac animal：_______

A. wild boar B. rabbit

C. dragon D. pig

4.According to the last paragraph, we know that ____ was the first animal to arrive.

A. ox B. Rat

C. pig D. Cat

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文敘述的是12生肖的故事。根據(jù)中國的農(nóng)歷12個動物代表著12個不同的年份，12生肖已經(jīng)世界聞名而且在西方流行開來。12生肖是中華文化的重要部分，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。

1.1】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year.可知一個生肖的特點影響那年出生的每個人的性格。故選B。

2.2】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段“What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age..可知這個問題可以被用來發(fā)現(xiàn)一個人的年齡。故答案選A。

3.3】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)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，因此日本生肖中沒有pig，故選D。

4.4】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段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.公牛本來第一到達的，可是老鼠坐在它背上，在它到達之前先跳了下來。故選B。

考點：故事類短文閱讀。