Dialogue 1 Year of the Chicken or Year of the Rooster?
对话1 鸡年是Chicken 还是 Rooster？

Jingjing: Long time, no see, Mark. Happy Year of the Rooster!
京晶：马克，好久不见！鸡年快乐！
Mark: It's great to see you, Jingjing. Happy New Year! Thanks for covering my extended vacation.
马克：见到你很高兴，京晶。新年快乐！谢谢在长假期间帮我代班。
Jingjing: I just hope you had a good chance to travel and relax during the holiday.
京晶：我只是希望你能利用假期好好旅游和放松一下。
Mark: For sure. By the way, I'm wondering if you think it's right to call it the year of the rooster or the year of the chicken.
马克：那必须的。对了，我想知道你认为应该称鸡年为“the year of the rooster”还是“the year of the chicken”。
Jingjing: Well, I've heard both in English. Of course, in Chinese, it's 鸡年(jīnián), which translates directly to chicken year.
京晶：哦，两种英文说法我都听说过。当然，中文是鸡年(jīnián)，直接翻译成英文就是chicken year。
Mark: That's true for all 12 of the animals on the Chinese zodiac, isn't it? It's just the basic word for the animal.
马克：对中国十二生肖的动物来说都是直接这样翻译的，不是吗？只是翻译成该生肖在英文中对应的简单词。
Jingjing: Yes. It doesn't specify male or female. 公鸡 (gōngjī) is the Chinese word for rooster. But we don't say 公鸡年 (gōngjīnián).
京晶：是的，并不具体指出是公的还是母的。rooster的中文是公鸡 (gōngjī)，但是我们并不说公鸡年 (gōngjīnián)。
Mark: A lot of people think you should go with the word that sounds more majestic, like rooster, ram, or boar.
马克：许多人认为应该使用更雄伟一点的词，比如rooster（公鸡），ram（公羊）或者boar（公猪）。
Jingjing: Don't you think so also?
京晶：难道你不也这么认为吗？
Mark: I would, but a lot of the animals are just called by their basic names. It's kind of a stretch to look for a different word for a chicken that sounds majestic, when the same process would get people mixed up between a rat and a rabbit.
马克：我是这样认为的，但是很多生肖只是以简单的名字称呼。找一个更正式雄伟的词来称呼鸡似乎有点言过其实，因为这样做的话会让人搞混鼠和兔。
Jingjing: A male rabbit is called a buck, right?
京晶：公兔在英文中是buck，对吗？
Mark: Yeah, but nobody uses that word, unless they're breeding rabbits. If I said I saw a buck in the forest, people would think I saw a male deer.
马克：是的，但是没人用这个词，除非他们是繁殖兔。如果我说我在森林里看到一只buck，人们会认为我看到的是一只公鹿。
Jingjing: So, we should just stick with the basic names for animals.
京晶：所以，我们可以只用生肖的通俗名。
Mark: Yeah. Call a chicken a chicken.
马克：是的，称鸡为鸡。

Dialogue 2 The Chinese Zodiac Abroad
对话2 外国人也知道中国十二生肖吗？

Jingjing: I was wondering, Mark, do people outside of Asia use the Chinese zodiac very much?
京晶：马克，我想知道亚洲之外的其他国家的人经常使用中国十二生肖吗？
Mark: Most people know their own animal year.
马克：大部分人知道他们自己的生肖年。
Jingjing: Do you remember when you learned yours?
京晶：你记得你是什么时候知道你的生肖年的吗？
Mark: Yeah. I was in a Chinese restaurant in Vail, Colorado. We were waiting for our food and looking at the placemats, which had been printed with the Chinese zodiac.
马克：记得，那时我在在科罗拉多州韦尔的一家中国餐馆，我们一边等着上餐，一边看着餐具垫，中国十二生肖就印在餐具垫上。
Jingjing: Were you excited to learn about your animal year?
京晶：你知道了自己的生肖年时兴奋吗？
Mark: I was, because I'm a dragon. I was with my family. Some of my relatives were like, “oh, I'm a monkey,” or, “I didn't know I was a pig.”
马克：当然，因为我属龙。当时我和家人在一起，我的一些亲戚当时都是，“噢，我是属猴的”或者“我都不知道我是属猪的。”
Jingjing: Hold up. Monkeys and pigs are not seen as good animals in America?
京晶：等等。猴和猪在美国不被看作好的动物吗？
Mark: We don't have the legend of the Monkey King from Journey to the West there.
马克：我们那里没有西游记齐天大圣的传说。
Jingjing: What about pigs?
京晶：那猪呢？
Mark: They're thought of as sloppy and lazy. But I understand that in China it's good fortune to be born in a year of the pig.
马克：他们被认为是粗心和懒惰的象征。但是我知道，在中国，出生在猪年象征着有福气。
Jingjing: You got it. You can expect to see a lot of pregnant ladies when the year of the pig rolls around.
京晶：你懂的。当猪年到时，你会看到很多孕妇。
Mark: I can picture it now: dozens of soon-to-be mothers rolling around the shopping mall.
马克：我现在就可以想象到那场景：许多准妈妈们扎堆儿逛着商场。
Jingjing: You might steer clear of the shopping mall that year, unless you're expecting.
京晶：那一年你可能想避开商场，除非你也怀孕了。
Mark: Yeah. It'll be a good year for online shopping!
马克：是的，那一年比较适合网购。