TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Megan Campisi and Pen-Pen Chen: The myth behind the Chinese zodiac

Unscramble the Blue Letters

What's your sign? In Western astrology, it's a constellation determined by when your birthday falls in the ceadnalr. But according to the Chinese zdioac, or signàxēho, it's your shǔxiàng, meaning the animal assigned to your birth year. And of the many myths explaining these amianl signs and their anregrnamet, the most enduring one is that of the Great Race. As the story goes, Yù Dì, or Jade Emperor, Ruler of the Heavens, wanted to devise a way to measure time, so he organized a race. The first twelve animals to make it across the river would earn a spot on the zodiac calendar in the order they arrived. The rat rose with the sun to get an early start, but on the way to the river, he met the horse, the tiger, and the ox. Because the rat was small and couldn't swim very well, he asked the bigger animals for help. While the tiger and horse refused, the kind-hearted ox agered to crray the rat across. Yet, just as they were about to reach the other side, the rat jumped off the ox's head and sercued first place. The ox came in second, with the powerful tiger right behind him. The rabbit, too small to btlate the current, nlimby hopped across stones and logs to come in fourth. Next came the dragon, who could have flown directly across, but stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way. After her came the horse, galloping across the river. But just as she got across, the snake slithered by. The startled hosre reerad back, letting the skane sneak into sitxh place. The Jade Emperor looked out at the rievr and spotted the sheep, the monkey, and the rooster all atop a raft, working together to push it through the weeds. When they made it across, the trio agreed to give eigthh place to the sheep, who had been the most comforting and harmonious of them, followed by the mkoeny and the rooster. Next came the dog, scrambling onto the shore. He was a great swimmer, but filrkeocd in the water for so long that he only managed to come in eleventh. The final spot was claimed by the pig, who had gotten hungry and spteopd to eat and nap before finally waddling across the finish line. And so, each year is associated with one of the animals in this oerdr, with the cycle starting over every 60 years. Why 60 and not twelve? Well, the traditional Chinese calendar is made up of two oilvpepnrag setmsys. The animals of the zodiac are associated with what's called the Twelve Earthly bearcnhs, or shí'èrzhī. Another system, the Ten Heavenly Stems, or tiāngān, is linked with the five classical elements of metal, xīn, wood, mù, wtaer, shuǐ, fire, huǒ, and earth, tǔ. Each element is assigned yīn or yáng, ciertang a ten-year cycle. When the twelve animals of the Earthly Branches are matched with the five eelmtens plus the yīn or the yáng of the Heavenly Stems, it creates 60 yraes of different combinations, known as a sageranxey cycle, or gānzhī. So someone born in 1980 would have the sign of yáng metal monkey, while someone born in 2007 would be yīn fire pig. In fact, you can also have an inner animal based on your birth mnoth, a true animal based on your birth date, and a secret animal based on your birth hour. It was the gaert race that supposedly determined which animals were enshrined in the Chinese zodiac, but as the system sarepd through Asia, other cultures made changes to reflect their cetummiions. So if you consult the Vietnamese zodiac, you may doveiscr that you're a cat, not a rabbit, and if you're in Thailand, a miytchal snake cleald a Naga rlepaecs the drgaon. So whether or not you place stock in what the zodiac says about you as an individual, it certainly reveals much about the culture it comes from.

Open Cloze

What's your sign? In Western astrology, it's a constellation determined by when your birthday falls in the ________. But according to the Chinese ______, or _________, it's your shǔxiàng, meaning the animal assigned to your birth year. And of the many myths explaining these ______ signs and their ___________, the most enduring one is that of the Great Race. As the story goes, Yù Dì, or Jade Emperor, Ruler of the Heavens, wanted to devise a way to measure time, so he organized a race. The first twelve animals to make it across the river would earn a spot on the zodiac calendar in the order they arrived. The rat rose with the sun to get an early start, but on the way to the river, he met the horse, the tiger, and the ox. Because the rat was small and couldn't swim very well, he asked the bigger animals for help. While the tiger and horse refused, the kind-hearted ox ______ to _____ the rat across. Yet, just as they were about to reach the other side, the rat jumped off the ox's head and _______ first place. The ox came in second, with the powerful tiger right behind him. The rabbit, too small to ______ the current, ______ hopped across stones and logs to come in fourth. Next came the dragon, who could have flown directly across, but stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way. After her came the horse, galloping across the river. But just as she got across, the snake slithered by. The startled _____ ______ back, letting the _____ sneak into _____ place. The Jade Emperor looked out at the _____ and spotted the sheep, the monkey, and the rooster all atop a raft, working together to push it through the weeds. When they made it across, the trio agreed to give ______ place to the sheep, who had been the most comforting and harmonious of them, followed by the ______ and the rooster. Next came the dog, scrambling onto the shore. He was a great swimmer, but _________ in the water for so long that he only managed to come in eleventh. The final spot was claimed by the pig, who had gotten hungry and _______ to eat and nap before finally waddling across the finish line. And so, each year is associated with one of the animals in this _____, with the cycle starting over every 60 years. Why 60 and not twelve? Well, the traditional Chinese calendar is made up of two ___________ _______. The animals of the zodiac are associated with what's called the Twelve Earthly ________, or shí'èrzhī. Another system, the Ten Heavenly Stems, or tiāngān, is linked with the five classical elements of metal, xīn, wood, mù, _____, shuǐ, fire, huǒ, and earth, tǔ. Each element is assigned yīn or yáng, ________ a ten-year cycle. When the twelve animals of the Earthly Branches are matched with the five ________ plus the yīn or the yáng of the Heavenly Stems, it creates 60 _____ of different combinations, known as a __________ cycle, or gānzhī. So someone born in 1980 would have the sign of yáng metal monkey, while someone born in 2007 would be yīn fire pig. In fact, you can also have an inner animal based on your birth _____, a true animal based on your birth date, and a secret animal based on your birth hour. It was the _____ race that supposedly determined which animals were enshrined in the Chinese zodiac, but as the system ______ through Asia, other cultures made changes to reflect their ___________. So if you consult the Vietnamese zodiac, you may ________ that you're a cat, not a rabbit, and if you're in Thailand, a ________ snake ______ a Naga ________ the ______. So whether or not you place stock in what the zodiac says about you as an individual, it certainly reveals much about the culture it comes from.

Solution

systems
snake
secured
years
calendar
replaces
overlapping
battle
stopped
reared
carry
arrangement
sixth
discover
called
creating
animal
mythical
order
water
agreed
dragon
month
monkey
river
shēngxiào
nimbly
branches
horse
great
zodiac
eighth
communities
elements
frolicked
sexagenary
spread

Original Text

What's your sign? In Western astrology, it's a constellation determined by when your birthday falls in the calendar. But according to the Chinese zodiac, or shēngxiào, it's your shǔxiàng, meaning the animal assigned to your birth year. And of the many myths explaining these animal signs and their arrangement, the most enduring one is that of the Great Race. As the story goes, Yù Dì, or Jade Emperor, Ruler of the Heavens, wanted to devise a way to measure time, so he organized a race. The first twelve animals to make it across the river would earn a spot on the zodiac calendar in the order they arrived. The rat rose with the sun to get an early start, but on the way to the river, he met the horse, the tiger, and the ox. Because the rat was small and couldn't swim very well, he asked the bigger animals for help. While the tiger and horse refused, the kind-hearted ox agreed to carry the rat across. Yet, just as they were about to reach the other side, the rat jumped off the ox's head and secured first place. The ox came in second, with the powerful tiger right behind him. The rabbit, too small to battle the current, nimbly hopped across stones and logs to come in fourth. Next came the dragon, who could have flown directly across, but stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way. After her came the horse, galloping across the river. But just as she got across, the snake slithered by. The startled horse reared back, letting the snake sneak into sixth place. The Jade Emperor looked out at the river and spotted the sheep, the monkey, and the rooster all atop a raft, working together to push it through the weeds. When they made it across, the trio agreed to give eighth place to the sheep, who had been the most comforting and harmonious of them, followed by the monkey and the rooster. Next came the dog, scrambling onto the shore. He was a great swimmer, but frolicked in the water for so long that he only managed to come in eleventh. The final spot was claimed by the pig, who had gotten hungry and stopped to eat and nap before finally waddling across the finish line. And so, each year is associated with one of the animals in this order, with the cycle starting over every 60 years. Why 60 and not twelve? Well, the traditional Chinese calendar is made up of two overlapping systems. The animals of the zodiac are associated with what's called the Twelve Earthly Branches, or shí'èrzhī. Another system, the Ten Heavenly Stems, or tiāngān, is linked with the five classical elements of metal, xīn, wood, mù, water, shuǐ, fire, huǒ, and earth, tǔ. Each element is assigned yīn or yáng, creating a ten-year cycle. When the twelve animals of the Earthly Branches are matched with the five elements plus the yīn or the yáng of the Heavenly Stems, it creates 60 years of different combinations, known as a sexagenary cycle, or gānzhī. So someone born in 1980 would have the sign of yáng metal monkey, while someone born in 2007 would be yīn fire pig. In fact, you can also have an inner animal based on your birth month, a true animal based on your birth date, and a secret animal based on your birth hour. It was the great race that supposedly determined which animals were enshrined in the Chinese zodiac, but as the system spread through Asia, other cultures made changes to reflect their communities. So if you consult the Vietnamese zodiac, you may discover that you're a cat, not a rabbit, and if you're in Thailand, a mythical snake called a Naga replaces the dragon. So whether or not you place stock in what the zodiac says about you as an individual, it certainly reveals much about the culture it comes from.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
animal based	3
great race	2
twelve animals	2

Important Words

agreed
animal
animals
arrangement
arrived
asia
asked
assigned
astrology
atop
based
battle
bigger
birth
birthday
born
branches
calendar
called
carry
cat
chinese
claimed
classical
combinations
comforting
communities
constellation
consult
creates
creating
creatures
culture
cultures
current
cycle
date
determined
devise
discover
dog
dragon
dì
early
earn
earth
earthly
eat
eighth
element
elements
eleventh
emperor
encountered
enduring
enshrined
explaining
fact
falls
final
finally
finish
fire
flown
fourth
frolicked
galloping
give
great
gānzhī
harmonious
head
heavenly
heavens
hopped
horse
hour
hungry
huǒ
individual
jade
jumped
letting
line
linked
logs
long
looked
managed
matched
meaning
measure
met
metal
monkey
month
mythical
myths
mù
naga
nap
nimbly
order
organized
overlapping
ox
pig
place
powerful
push
rabbit
race
raft
rat
reach
reared
reflect
refused
replaces
reveals
river
rooster
rose
ruler
scrambling
secret
secured
sexagenary
sheep
shore
shuǐ
shēngxiào
shǔxiàng
side
sign
signs
sixth
slithered
small
snake
sneak
spot
spotted
spread
start
starting
startled
stems
stock
stones
stopped
story
sun
supposedly
swim
swimmer
system
systems
ten
thailand
tiger
time
tiāngān
traditional
trio
true
twelve
tǔ
vietnamese
waddling
wanted
water
weeds
western
wood
working
xīn
year
years
yáng
yù
yīn
zodiac