When Chinese people talk about the mouse,they are likely to see it as greedy and dishonest.It mainly comes from a Chinese folk story about the cat and the mouse.
One day, the mouse and the cat made an appointment to attend a competition held by the Jade Emperor. It would decide the zodiac animals. However, the mouse did not wake the cat up and at last won by riding on the ox's back. So the mouse ranked first on the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, and because of that, people think the mouse betrayed his friend.
Probably not! Human culture is funny. There are always different ways to look at the same thing.
In another folk story, people treated the mouse as a great hero. It's said that the mouse created the world by taking a bite of heaven, bringing light to humans. It helped people survive by scaling firewood and gain seeds (种子).As a result, many people respect the mouse by offering food and praying for success.
Since mice live together in societies and have many babies with a high survival rate,they also represent cooperation(合作)and reproduction.With these qualities,it's believed that people born he Year of the Mouse are smart and good at making money.
Perhaps we need to find a new understanding for other things﹣animals,ideas or even.
(1)Who did the mouse betray in the passage?
A. |
The ox. |
B. |
The cat. |
C. |
Jade Emperor. |
D. |
The cat and the ox. |
(2)What can we know from Paragraph 4?
A. |
The mouse created the word by stealing something. |
B. |
The mouse lose people's grain seeds secretly. |
C. |
The mouse did many things to save humans. |
D. |
The mouse can never be a hero. |
(3)What's the Chinese meaning of the underlined phrase "survival rate" in Paragraph 5?
A. |
增长率 |
B. |
出生率 |
C. |
死亡率 |
D. |
存活串 |
(4)Which saying can be used as the writer's opinion?
A. |
Where there is a will, there is a way. |
B. |
Each coin has two sides. |
C. |
God help those who help themselves. |
D. |
A friend in need is a friend indeed. |