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Buddha (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 foretells 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 donor 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 judgment, 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 pretentiously (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！