选择性必修一 十二生肖的故事
十二生肖的故事（上）
What’s your sign?
In western astrology, it’s a constellation determined by when our birthday falls in the calendar. But according to the Chinese Zodiac, or “Sheng Xiao”, it’s your “Shu Xiang”, meaning the animal assigned to your birth year. And of the many myths explaining these animal sings and their arrangement, the most enduring one is that of the Great Race. As the story goes, “Yu Di” or Jade Emperor, ruler of the heavens, wanted to devise a way to measure time. So he organized a race. The first twelve animals to make it across the river would earn a spot on the Zodiac calendar in the order they arrived. The rat rose with the sun to get an early start. But on the way to the river, he met the horse, the tiger and the ox. Because the rat was small, and couldn’t swim very well, he asked the bigger animals for help.
While the tiger and horse refused. The kind-hearted ox agreed to carry the rat across. Yet, just as they were about to reach the other side, the rat jumped off the ox’s head and secured first place. The ox came in second with the powerful tiger right behind him. The rabbit, too small to battle the current, nimbly hopped across stones and logs to come in fourth. Next came the dragon, who could have flown directly across, but stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way. After her came the horse, galloping across the river. But just as she got across, the snake slithered by. The startled horse reared back, letting the snake sneak into sixth place. The Jade emperor looked out at the river and spotted the sheep, the monkey and the rooster all atop of a raft, working together to push it through the weeds. When they made it across, the trio agreed to give eighth place to the sheep, who had been the most comforting and harmonious of them, followed by the monkey and the rooster. Next came the dog, scrambling onto the shore. He was a great swimmer, but frolicked in the water for so long that he only managed to come in the eleventh. The final spot was claimed by the pig, who’d gotten hungry, and stopped to eat and nap before finally waddling across the finish line. And so, each year is associated with
one of the animals in this order, with the cycle starting over every sixty years. Why sixty and not twelve? Well, the traditional Chinese calendar is made up of two overlapping systems. The animals of the Zodiac are associated with what’s called the Twelve Earthly Branches, or “Shi Er Di Zhi”. Another system, the Ten Heavenly Stems, or “Shi Tian Gan”, is linked with the five classical elements of Metal, “Jin”, Wood “Mu”, Water “Shui”, Fire“Huo” and Earth “Tu”. Each element is assigned “Yin” or “Yang”, creating a ten-year cycle. When the twelve animals of the Earthly Branches are matched with the five elements, plus the “Yin” or the ‘Yang’ of the Heavenly stems, it creates sixty years of different combinations, known as a sexagenary cycle, or “Gan Zhi”. So someone born in 1980 would have the sign of “Yang”, Metal Monkey, while someone bon in 2007 would be “Yin”, Fire, pig. In fact, you can also have an inner animal based on your birth month; a true animal based on your birth date and a secret animal based on your birth hour. It was the Great Race that supposedly determined which animals were enshrined in the China Zodiac. But as the system spread through Asia, other cultures made changes to reflect their communities. So if you consult the Vietnamese Zodiac, you may discover that you are cat, not a rabbit. And if you are in T
hailand, a mythical snake called Naga, replaces the dragon. So whether or not you place stock in what the Zodiac says about you as an individual, it certainly reveals much about the culture it comes from.
单词详解：
1. determine v. 决定；确定；（使）下定决心
determine to do 决定做    （表示动作）
determine on/upon 决定
determined  adj. 坚决的；坚定的；果断的
be determined to do 决心做    （表示状态）
determination  n. 决心；坚定；果断
with determination 坚决地；果断地
例句：
The size of the fish will determine the thickness of the steaks.
鱼的大小决定鱼排的厚度。
He determined to rescue his two countrymen.
他决意营救自己的两名同胞。
It must have reinforced my determination to blend into my surroundings.
这势必让我更加下定决心融入周围环境。
2. base on以……为据点;以……为根据 基部;基地;基础
base on/upon 把……建立在……；以……为根据
be based on/upon以……为根据（基袖）
basis  n. 原因，缘由；基准，准则；方式；基础
on the basis of在……的基础上
base的形容词basic adj. 基本的；基拙的
例句：
Based on important decision more on emotion than on reason, you will regret it sooner or later.
Don’t evaluate a person on the basis of his appearance.
The restaurant is based on trust and it is working all right.   
3. asked the bigger animals for help. The first twelve
ask sb. for help  向某人求助
turn to sb. for help 向某人求助
例句：
Mr Spero was reluctant to ask for help.
斯佩罗先生不愿意寻求帮助。
You can ask for help whenever you need it.
你如果需要帮助随时可以提出来。
She had been too proud to ask for help.
她的自尊心太强,从不求助于人.
4. on the way 在路上
in a way从某种意义上讲；从某方面来说；在某种 程度上
all the way —路上；完全地；自始至终，一直
by way of经由；途经
in the way挡路；碍事
in no way决不（置于句首句子用倒装）
in this way用这种方法
例句：
The forecasters say more snow is on the way.
You can allow such a thing to continue in no way.
You can solve this problem only in this way.
Germs may get into the body by way of the mouth.
5. make up 组成；构成；化妆；编造；弥补
make up one’ mind to do sth 下定决心去做某事
例句：
Women officers make up 13 per cent of the
女警占警力的13%。
I think it's very unkind of you to make up stories
我认为你编造他的谣言很不厚道。
She spent too much time making
她在化妆上花去了太多时间。
They'll have to make up time lost during the strike.
他们不得不加班弥补罢工耽误的时间。
（答题时间：40分钟）
一、单项选择
1. He stays up very late every night, __________________ to catch up with his classmates.
A. determined        B. determining        C. to determine        D. determine
*2. What is the __________ of your opinion? Mine is that Karl Max made London the __________ for his revolutionary work.
A. basis; base        B. basis; basis        C. base; basis            D. base; base
3. _____________ on careful plan and preparation, her experiment was a complete success.
A. Base            B. On the base        C. Based                D. Basing
*4. Last week, I was ill for some days and I'm determined to __________ the lost time.
A. make up        B. make up of        C. make of            D. make up for
二、短文改错
文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处。
Recently, more and more schools have set up special organizations calling “Waking Up Club”. They aim to encourage students get up early in the morning. A discussion about set up a similar organization in our school is organized by the Student Union last Monday. 120 students took part in it, of which 67 supported it because they believed it would help them develop good habits and make fully use of the morning time. Therefore, 48 students didn’t t
hink it was a good idea. They held that if to get up early or not depended on one’s habit and it was not right to force us to do so. The rest of the students insisted on that everyone should follow their own wishes and their own lifestyles.
三、语法填空
Nathan Sawaya showed a strong *1.__________ (prefer) for building blocks when he was young. At the age of 5, his grandparents bought his first set of building blocks and he 2. __________  (play) with them ever since. He even took his building blocks to college with him. Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village 3. __________ (make) of bricks on his desk.

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