十二生肖中为何老鼠排第一？ _生活百科

说起十二生肖，大家再熟悉不过了。老鼠是十二生肖中体格最小的，却排在十二生肖的最前面。这是怎么来的呢？

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图片来源：CGTN
The Spring Festival is just around the corner, we will ring in the Year of the Rat. It also marks the first year of a new round of the Chinese zodiac, since the rat is the first in the cycle of 12 Chinese zodiac signs.
春节就要到了，我们即将迎来鼠年。它也标志着中国新一轮生肖周期的第一年，因为老鼠是十二生肖中的第一个。
zodiac [?z??di?k]：n.属相
To those who might not be quite familiar with the zodiac, it is a repeated cycle of 12 years, with each year being represented by an animal. The cycle begins with the Year of the Rat, and goes through Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, ending with the Year of the Pig.一些人还不太熟悉生肖，它是一个重复的十二年循环，每一年都有一个动物代表。生肖周期从鼠年开始，之后是牛、虎、兔、龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗，直到猪年结束。
It is not difficult to notice that the rat is the smallest animal in the group, so how comes it ranks on top of the list? Well, there are several explanations.不难发现，老鼠是十二生肖中最小的动物，那么它是怎么排在首位的呢？对此有几种解释。

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上海豫园迎新春灯会（图片来源：中国日报）
One Explanation: Terrestrial Branches
一种解释：地支
The 12 Chinese zodiac signs are based on the 12 Terrestrial Branches. Ancient Chinese people invented the system based on observations of the orbit of Jupiter, which has a 12-year rotation basis.中国的十二生肖以十二地支为基础。中国古人根据对木星轨道的观测发明了这一系统，木星的公转周期为12年。
Chinese people named each of the Terrestrial Branches, and use them to mark the year, month, date, as well as different periods of the day. Therefore, Jupiter is also known as the "Year Star" in ancient China.中国人给每一个地支命名，用它们来标记年、月、日以及一天中的不同时间。因此，木星在中国古代也被称为“年星” 。
The order of the zodiacs was based on their habits and activity time during the day. For example, the rats usually come out around midnight, therefore it is arranged at the beginning of the Terrestrial Branches, referring to the period between 23:00 pm and 1:00 am.十二生肖的顺序是根据动物们一天的习惯和活动时间来确定的。例如，老鼠通常在午夜前后出来活动，因此它被安排在地支的首个，用来指午夜23点到凌晨1点之间的时间。
Likewise, the ox is the second because the animal ruminates after 1:00 am, and the tiger comes next for it is believed to start wondering around preying between 3:00 to 5:00 in the morning. The same order was transplanted to the arrangement of the 12 zodiac signs.同样的，牛排在第二位，因为它在凌晨1点之后开始反刍，而老虎排在第三位，因为人们认为老虎在凌晨3点到5点之间开始四处捕食。十二生肖都以此排序。
ruminate[?ru?m?ne?t]：vt. 反刍
Without any records on archives, this is the most believable explanation, since it is more of a summary of the ancient people's observation of nature. Most of the ancient systems used by the Chinese were created in the same way. 在没有任何记载的情况下，这是最可信的解释，因为它更像是古人对自然的观察总结。中国人使用的大多数古代系统同样按此创造。

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图片来源：中国日报

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