羊年的羊到底是goat還是sheep？

時(shí)間：2024-09-29 18:02:26 學(xué)人智庫(kù) 我要投稿

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羊年的羊到底是goat還是sheep？

　　The zodiac animal of China's coming Lunar New Year has caused much

　　confusion in the English world, as its translation results in at least two

　　candidates: sheep or goat.

　　中國(guó)農(nóng)歷新年即將到來(lái)，但今年的生肖卻讓英語(yǔ)國(guó)家的人們感到非常困惑，因?yàn)樗辽儆袃煞N英文翻譯：綿羊或山羊。

　　Chinese folklorists say the animal symbol can be either a sheep or a goat

　　but more likely goat, given the latter's popularity as a farm animal among Han

　　Chinese.

　　中國(guó)民俗學(xué)家表示，羊年生肖的象征物既可能是綿羊，也可能是山羊，但山羊的可能性更大，因?yàn)樵跐h族地區(qū)山羊作為家畜更為常見(jiàn)。

　　The Chinese lunar calendar assigns an animal symbol to each year in every

　　12-year cycle. Yet the Chinese character for the eighth zodiac animal is "Yang",

　　which can refer to either of the two ruminants when used without attributes.

　　中國(guó)農(nóng)歷以十二年為周期，每年以一種動(dòng)物作為象征。十二生肖中的第八個(gè)生肖是“羊”，而這個(gè)字在沒(méi)有修飾限定語(yǔ)的情況下可指綿羊或山羊任意一種反芻動(dòng)物。

　　Huang Yang, a prominent researcher on the role of sheep/goats in Chinese

　　culture, says tracing the origin of the zodiacal Yang could be difficult, as the

　　Chinese zodiac first appeared after the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC), when the

　　Chinese people did not differentiate between sheep and goats in language or in

　　sacrificial offering.

　　國(guó)內(nèi)研究羊在中國(guó)文化中地位的知名學(xué)者黃洋稱，追尋生肖羊的來(lái)歷比較困難，因?yàn)榇松ぷ钕瘸霈F(xiàn)在商朝(公元前1600-1046年)之后，而那時(shí)人們?cè)谡Z(yǔ)言和祭祀中是不區(qū)分綿羊和山羊的。

　　Both species have a long history of domestication in China and have

　　appeared on oracle bone scripts and other artifacts since prehistoric times,

　　according to Huang, who in 2012 challenged the saying that Chinese are

　　"descendants of the dragon" by arguing that the earliest Chinese actually

　　worshipped the meek ruminants.

　　黃洋稱，這兩種動(dòng)物在中國(guó)都有著較長(zhǎng)的畜養(yǎng)歷史，自史前時(shí)期開(kāi)始，就已出現(xiàn)在甲骨文和其他手工藝品上了。黃洋曾在2012年質(zhì)疑中國(guó)人是龍的傳人，認(rèn)為最早的中國(guó)人崇拜的是溫順的反芻動(dòng)物——羊。

　　"But if we judge from the fact that the Chinese zodiac is a Han tradition,

　　Yang are more likely goats, which are more common livestock for the Han

　　Chinese," he tells Xinhua in a phone interview.

　　在接受新華社的電話采訪時(shí)，他表示：“但如果我們基于生肖是漢族傳統(tǒng)這個(gè)事實(shí)出發(fā)，

　　則‘羊’更可能指的是山羊，因?yàn)閷?duì)于漢族人來(lái)說(shuō)山羊是更為常見(jiàn)的家畜�！�

　　Shaggy sheep are a common sight in north China's prairies and were

　　domesticated by Chinese earlier than goats, but goats are more commonly raised

　　in areas populated by Han Chinese, Huang says.

　　他說(shuō)，絨毛蓬松的綿羊在中國(guó)北方的大草原上很常見(jiàn)，其畜養(yǎng)的時(shí)間也比山羊要早，但在漢族聚居地山羊更為常見(jiàn)。

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