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.

　　中國農歷新年即將到來，但今年的生肖卻讓英語國家的人們感到非常困惑，因為它至少有兩種英文翻譯：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.

　　中國民俗學家表示，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，因為在漢族地區山羊作為家畜更為常見。

　　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.

　　中國農歷以十二年為周期，每年以一種動物作為象征。十二生肖中的第八個生肖是“羊”，而這個字在沒有修飾限定語的情況下可指綿羊或山羊任意一種反芻動物。

　　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.

　　國內研究羊在中國文化中地位的知名學者黃洋稱，追尋生肖羊的來歷比較困難，因為此生肖最先出現在商朝(公元前1600-1046年)之后，而那時人們在語言和祭祀中是不區分綿羊和山羊的。

　　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，這兩種動物在中國都有著較長的畜養歷史，自史前時期開始，就已出現在甲骨文和其他手工藝品上了。黃洋曾在2012年質疑中國人是龍的傳人，認為最早的中國人崇拜的是溫順的反芻動物——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，他表示：“但如果我們基于生肖是漢族傳統這個事實出發，

　　則‘羊’更可能指的是山羊，因為對于漢族人來說山羊是更為常見的家畜�！�

　　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，絨毛蓬松的綿羊在中國北方的大草原上很常見，其畜養的時間也比山羊要早，但在漢族聚居地山羊更為常見。

【羊年的羊到底是goat還是sheep？】相關文章：

羊年帶羊祝福賀詞08-01

到底是該先創業還是先結婚？09-14

職場上的友誼，到底是優勢還是負擔？08-16

羊年賀詞09-08

羊年拜年賀詞08-23

羊年祝福寄語07-27

羊年賀詞成語09-28

羊年的最新對聯08-28

羊年新居對聯07-15

羊年知識普及07-02