The Creatures in the Chinese Zodiac Calendar 中国十二生肖中的生物

A long time ago, God decided to choose twelve creatures as the zodiac signs for all human beings to belong to. He chose the twelve creatures for a competition to determine the ranking of these twelve creatures for the twelve-year cycles. The twelve creatures were the Mouse, the Cattle, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep, the Monkey, the Chicken, the Dog and the Pig.

很久以前，上帝决定选择十二生肖作为全人类的属相。他选择了十二种生物进行比赛，以确定这十二种生物在十二年周期中的排名。十二生肖是鼠、牛、虎、兔、龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗,和猪。

The rule of the competition was simple - the twelve creatures were to go to meet God and the order of arrival would determine the order of the ranking.

比赛的规则很简单，十二只动物要去见神，来到神的面前顺序决定了排名的顺序。

The Cattle was the closest to God but he had to cross a river to reach God. The Mouse was close behind the Cattle and as the Mouse had run for quite a while, he was tired. He begged the Cattle for a ride on his back to cross the river, instead of swimming across. The kind Cattle agreed. And, just as the Cattle crossed the river, the Mouse jumped down from the Cattle’s back and sped off to claim the first spot, with the kindly Cattle second.

牛离上帝最近，但他必须过河才能到达上帝。老鼠紧跟在牛身后，老鼠跑了好久，累了。他恳求牛骑在他的背上过河，而不是游过去。善良的牛同意了。而且，就在牛过河的时候，老鼠从牛背上跳下来，飞驰而去，占据了第一名，好心的牛第二。

The Dragon from the Sky, the Rabbit from his hutch and the Tiger from the jungle, were rushing for the next three spots. The Dragon should be the next to arrive but the Dragon went out of his way, diverted from the race to extinguish a fire which was endangering the lives of some villagers. By the time he arrived to God, he was behind both the Tiger and the Rabbit. The Tiger was drifted away from his course by the waves but still managed to beat the Rabbit but just a minute. Third - Tiger; Fourth Rabbit; Fifth Dragon.

天上的龙、窝里的兔子和丛林里的老虎，都在为接下来的三个位置而奔波。龙应该是下一个到达的，但龙不顾一切，从比赛中转移来扑灭危及一些村民生命的火灾。当他到达上帝面前时，他已经落后于老虎和兔子了。老虎被海浪漂离了他的路线，但仍然设法击败了兔子，但只有一分钟。第三 - 老虎；第四只兔子；五龙。

The Horse was not far behind the Dragon and thought that the sixth place was in the bag. However, it had not noticed that the Snake was saving energy by wrapping itself around the horse’s left leg to hitch a ride. When God was in sight, the Snake uncoiled itself and frightened the Horse enough to slither into the sixth spot, leaving its carrier, the Horse, to take seventh place.

马在龙身后不远处，认为第六名在包里。然而，它并没有注意到蛇是通过将自己缠绕在马的左腿上搭便车来节省能量的。当上帝出现在视线中时，蛇展开了自己，吓坏了马，滑到了第六位，让它的载体马获得了第七位。

Next up came the Sheep, the Monkey and the Chicken and this is a perfect example of teamwork.

The three sailed across the river on a small wooden craft they made together and this saw them crossing the river safely.

Once on the other side of the shore, closer to God, they made a dash for the finishing line together. They were tied for the eighth place, but God recognised that the Sheep’s nose first touched His hand and thus the Sheep was declared eighth. The Monkey raised his right hand to do a “High Five” with God and was declared ninth and the Chicken was satisfied that her friends deserved to be ahead and contented with the tenth spot.

接下来是绵羊、猴子和鸡，这是团队合作的完美例子。 这三只动物乘坐他们一起制作的小木船过河，这让他们安全过河。 到了岸的另一边，离上帝更近了，他们一起冲向终点线。他们并列第八名，但上帝承认羊的鼻子首先接触到他的手，因此羊被宣布为第八名。猴子举起右手与上帝打了一个“高五”，被宣布为第九名，鸡很满意她的朋友们应该领先并满足于第十名。

The last two were the Dog and the Pig. The Dog was playful and was more interested in playing around with the water, splashing around about the river. The Pig, on the other hand, stopped many times for food of any kind, biting on fallen fruits any kind - fruits that were about to rot. The Pig became sleepy and dozed off in an afternoon nap leaving the Dog to come in as number eleven.

The Pig, after a good two-hour sleep was totally happy to come in last. To him, the fruits were more important than the race to be the top animal to cross the line.

最后两个是狗和猪。狗很顽皮，更喜欢玩水，在河边嬉戏。另一方面，猪为了任何种类的食物而多次停下来，咬着任何种类的倒下的水果——即将腐烂的水果。猪变得困倦，在午睡中打瞌睡，留下狗作为 11 号进来。 猪，在睡了两个小时后，非常高兴地最后进来了。对他来说，吃水果比比赛更满足。他很高兴他能够完成了比赛。

After the announcement of the result of the competition, the Tiger and the Snake raised objections. They claimed that the competition was not fair for two main reasons.

Reason # 1: The starting point of the race was not the same, favouring those that were, at the starting time, closer to God.

Reason # 2: “It is not fair to me,” said the snake. “All other animals have legs but I have none, so how can I ever be the top in such a race. “This competition favours those animals with four legs,” she added.

比赛结果公布后，老虎和蛇提出了反对意见。他们声称比赛不公平有两个主要原因。 原因一：比赛的起点不一样，偏爱那些起跑时离上帝更近的动物。原因2：“这对我不公平，”蛇说。 “所有其他动物都有腿，但我没有，所以我怎么能在这样的比赛中名列前茅。这场比赛有利于那些有四条腿的动物，”她补充道。

God made no reply. Instead, He placed the twelve animals inside a circular ringed area, such that no animal was able to know the ranking of the competition. They could only see their neighbours on both sides of them.

神没有回答。取而代之的是，他将十二只动物放在了一个圆形的环形区域内，这样任何动物都无法知道比赛的排名。他们只能看到他们两边的邻居。

Suddenly, the Cat appeared before God. “Sir,” she said, “Why was I not selected for the race?” she asked.

“I am God,” came God’s reply. “I can see the past, the present, and the future. I decide all things on earth and all things in this universe. I bless every creature and every other things I have created. I have given you, the Cat nine lives, while the rest of the animals chosen for the competition have only just one life each. I can see that you will have many happy days in front of you.” Satisfied with the answer, the Cat left quietly.

突然，猫出现在上帝面前。 “先生，”她说，“为什么我没有被选中参加比赛？”她问。 “我是上帝，”上帝回答道。 “我能看到过去、现在和未来。我决定地球上的所有事物和这个宇宙中的所有事物。我祝福我创造的每一个生物和所有其他事物。我给了你，猫,九条生命，而其余参加比赛的动物都只有一条命，我看你会有很多快乐的日子在你面前。” 猫得到了满意的答复，悄悄地离开了。

Source of the story: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac - The Great Race https://youtu.be/80jQkCpXbTY

故事来源：十二生肖的故事-大种族
https://youtu.be/80jQkCpXbTY