中国人的十二生肖十分有趣。生肖指的是：the year of the animal in which one was born。为什么会有十二个动物呢？According to legend，传说很久以前Buddha¹ (佛)在过年的时候召集天下所有动物来开会共商大事，but only twelve animals showed up，只有十二个动物赶来参加。于是，Buddha就按动物到来的先后顺序为每一年命了名。最先到的是rat，最后到的是pig。In the order of their arrival, from the rat to the pig, Buddha conferred (赐予，授予) on each a year of its own. 这样就开始了十二个动物为一轮的属相纪年法。The twelve-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac (黄道十二宫图) began. 古代中国的星相学认为人的属相，the animal sign under which a person was born，是同一个人的根本性格和命运息息相关的。According to Chinese astrology (占星术), the animal sign associated with the year of a person’s birth determines one’s fundamental character and foretells² one’s destiny (命运). 在这里，我们来谈谈horse。

“伯乐与千里马”的故事每个中国人都十分熟悉。西方人对马表现了同样浓厚的兴趣。希腊人凭借着腹中掏空的木马，a hollow wooden horse, 把将士藏在其中，巧妙地攻下了特洛伊城(the city of Troy)。特洛伊木马，a Trojan horse，从此家喻户晓。现在人们用它来指“一项活动(an activity)或一项政策(a policy)看似没有危害，但实质上是会坏大事的”，to seem harmless but is likely to damage or destroy something important。古罗马帝王查尔斯五世说：“他同God讲西班牙语，同women讲意大利语，同men讲法语，同他的horse讲德语。”对英国人来说赛马，horse race，从前是国王们特有的运动，the sport of kings，而今它变成了人人可以参与的“运动之王”，the king of sports。

马的食粮很大。A horse has a large appetite (胃口)，英语中说一个人能吃得很，会说：A person eats like a horse. 这一表达法可能来自于一个古老的谚语：A hungry horse makes a clean manger (食槽).（一匹饿马能把马槽打扫得干干净净）。而一个人饿极了会说：I could eat a horse.（我都能吃下一匹马。）He is extremely hungry. 马很强壮。英文中有as strong as a horse一说。To work like a horse指的就是像牛马一样辛苦地干活。

To look a gift horse in the mouth, 这短语表达的是对别人送来礼物的质量不信任、百般挑剔，to be critical of a gift。据说马长到一定年龄，人们只要掰开马嘴看看嘴里的牙就能确定马的年龄。The expression refers to the bad manners displayed by one who receives a gift if he examines it for defects (缺陷). 那么收到礼物的人如果不顾场合，迫不及待想看看礼物有没有毛病，这个坏习惯令人想起“得了便宜还卖乖”的说法。It was considered insulting to closely examine and inspect a horse that was a gift — as if you did not trust the donor³ to give quality. 既然马的下齿不折不扣地显示一匹马的实际年龄，因此to get something straight from the horse’s mouth指的就是to get something (news, information, etc.) from a reliable source, 得到的消息、信息可靠，可信。

Horse around是说没有目的地乱玩、胡闹，to behave in a silly and noisy way, 用来指公众场合无视规矩的举动。相近的另一说法是horseplay, 指的是你推我搡的嬉闹。“Cut the horseplay. Be quiet. This is a library.”（“别胡闹了。安静。这是图书馆。”）马常常会发出大声的类似人笑的声音，the loud, laughter-like noise。Horse-laugh从十八世纪开始，就用来指人毫无顾忌的放声大笑、哄笑，a loud, coarse, vulgar (不雅的) laugh。

在选举或是比赛中支持错了人，英语说to back the wrong horse, 意思是to make an error in judgment⁴, to support the wrong person。To ride the high horse, 骑着高头大马，表现的是一个人摆架子，神气活现、自命不凡，to act pretentiously⁵ (自命不凡地)。

“马到成功”是马年的祝福语，它的意思是能迅速成功、能轻易成事，to win instant success, to accomplish quickly and easily。祝大家马到成功！