The story goes that all the animals wanted to be a zodiac sign when the Jade Emperor decreed to select the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. According to the standard, however, only the animals helpful to human beings could be selected.
Therefore, all the animals came to the Jade Emperor to show their merits and prove that they were good assistants to human beings. Nevertheless, the origin of zodiac dog was related to the cat.
Legend goes that both the cat and the dog had a close relationship with humans. The cat thought the dog ate too much and slept in front of the door all day without any contribution while the dog thought the cat only ate the good food and did nothing but scaring the rat all day. They argued and asked the Jade Emperor to decide which side was right.
The Jade Emperor asked the dog: "how much do you eat for a meal?" The dog honestly replied: "I watch the door and guard the house every day, and I eat a bowl of food for a meal." Then, the Jade Emperor asked the cat: "what about you?" On a sudden inspiration, the cat said: "I can chant scriptures and catch rat and I eat an oil lamp of food for a meal." The cat just wanted to tell the Jade Emperor tactfully that it not only ate an oil lamp of food, but also earned its own living by catching rat, so its contribution was bigger than the dog.
After listening to what the dog and the cat said, the Jade Emperor thought the cat eat less but did more and its contribution was bigger than the dog. The dog was very angry because the cat won it with a disgraceful lie. Therefore, the dog abused and chased after the cat to bite it. The cat knew that it was in the wrong, so it kept running and dared not show up even in the home, hiding from place to place.
In selecting the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, however, the heavenly officers didn't follow the Jade Emperor's decree and they changed the rule: those first arrived animals would be the twelve Chinese zodiac signs.
The dog learned the news, so it came with the rooster to the Heavenly Palace when the cat was hiding away from it. The rooster flied to the front of the dog; the cat went out after the dog left and it learned that the dog had gone to the Heavenly Palace to participate in the competition of Chinese zodiac signs. So, the cat ran to the Heavenly Palace in a hurry and ranked after the pig. Unexpectedly, the rat played a trick and hid in the ox's horn, thus ranked first among the animal signs while the cat had no chance. From then on, the cat hated the rat and killed rat whenever it found one. Although the honest dog was selected successfully, it never forgave the cat.
THE END
【关键词】
1、 decreed （vi.）颁布
2、 zodiac sign （n.）生肖；属相
3、 human beings （n.）人类
4、 merit （n.）优点
5、 inspiration （n.） 灵感
6、 chant scriptures （n.）诵经
7、 tactfully （adv.） 机智地；圆滑地
8、 participate in （phr.）参加
9、 competition （n.）比赛
10、 horn （n.）触角
【译文】狗和猫
故事是这样的，玉皇大帝颁令要挑选十二生肖时，所有的动物都想成为一个属相。然而，依照标准，只有对人类有益的动物才可以入选。
因此，所有动物都来到玉皇大帝跟前展示其优势，并证明它们是人类的好帮手。然而，属相狗的产生却与猫有关。
传说猫和狗都与人类有着密切的关系。猫认为狗吃得太多，整天睡在门前没有任何贡献，而狗则认为猫好吃懒作，除了吓唬老鼠整天无所事事。它们吵得不可开交，要求玉皇大帝裁决谁是谁非。
玉皇大帝问狗：“你一顿饭吃多少？”狗老实地回答说：“我每天看门护院，每顿吃一碗饭。”然后，玉皇大帝问猫：“你呢？”猫灵机一动，说：“我会诵经，能抓老鼠，每餐只吃一灯盏食物。”这只猫只是想巧妙地告诉玉皇大帝，它不仅只吃一灯盏食物，而且还通过捕捉老鼠来自食其力，所以它的贡献比狗大。
在听了狗和猫说的表述之后，玉皇大帝认为猫吃得少，做得多，它的贡献比狗大。狗非常生气，因为这只猫赢得不光彩，它撒谎了。因此，狗恶语以对，追着咬猫。猫知道自己不对，所以便拼命地跑，甚至在家里都不敢露面，东躲西藏。
然而，在挑选十二生肖时，天上的大臣们并没有遵循玉皇大帝的法令，他们改变了规则：那些最先赶到的动物将被选作十二生肖。
狗得知这一消息，便和公鸡一起赶往天宫，而当时猫还在躲避狗呢。公鸡在前面飞，狗在后面跑；等狗走了，猫也随后出门，到了狗的前面;狗离开后，猫出去了，它得知狗已经去了天宫参加中国十二生肖的比赛。于是，猫急匆匆跑到天宫，排在猪后面。出乎意料的是，老鼠耍了个花招，它藏身于牛的犄角里，因此在动物生肖中排名第一，而猫则失去了机会。从那以后，猫非常憎恨老鼠，只要见到就会咬死。虽然诚实的狗成功当选，但它永远也不会原谅猫。
（完）
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