Talking about yourself

VOCABULARY EXTENSION I

I. Chinese astrology organises years into cycles of twelve with each year named after an animal. The Chinese believe that the year you are born in affects your character.

Animal	Year	Characteristics
RAT	1972, 1984,	Imaginative, charming, generous,
		quick-tempered, opportunistic (1)
BUFFALO	1973, 1985,	Conservative, methodical(2), conscientious,
		chauvinistic (3), a born leader
TIGER	1974, 1986,	Sensitive, emotional, tend to get
		carried away (4), stubborn, rebellious
RABBIT	1975, 1987,	Affectionate, obliging (5), gallant (6),
		sentimental, superficial (7)
DRAGON	1964, 1976,	Fun-loving, popular, perfectionist,
		gifted, may sometimes be tactless
SNAKE	1965, 1977,	Sagacious(9), charming, intuitive (10),
		stingy, inclined to procrastinate (11)
HORSE	1966, 1978,	Diligent (12), independent, placid (13),
		friendly, can be selfish and cunning
GOAT.	1967, 1979,	Elegant, artistic, always ready to
		complain, plagued by (14) worry worry
MONKEY	1968, 1980,	Witty, magnetic personality (15), can be
		self-seeking (16) and distrustful
ROOSTER ~	1969, 1981,	Industrious, shrewd (17), decisive, very
		extravagant, a flashy (18) dresser ^t
DOG	1970, 1982,	Down-to-earth, altruistic (19), morose (20),
		sharp-tongued (21), a fault-finder (22)
PIG	1971, 1983,	Intellectual, tolerant, naïve (23), downfall (24)
		could be desire for material goods

(1) using situations for own benefit

(2) systematic, careful

(3) too patriotic

(4) become too excited and lose control

(5) ready to help

(6) (of man) polite to women

(7) not caring about serious things

(8) inclined to say things that upset or offend people

(9) wise

(10) understanding instinctively

(11) delay doing something

(12) hard-working

(13) calm, does not easily become excited or angry

(14) troubled or distressed by

(15) personality that attracts people to you

(16) wanting to gain advantage for oneself

(17) having good judgement

(18) expensive or impressive

(19) thinking of others rather than oneself

(20) gloomy

(21) inclined to speak in a severe and critical way

(22) critical person

(23) without enough experience of life, trusting too easily

(24) cause of destruction

II. Charming, witty, wise - recognise yourself? Stingy, selfish, sly - must be somebody else!

Some words in the chart above have positive associations, others negative ones. Here are some words from the chart together with other words that share some aspects of their meaning. The table shows which have positive and which have negative associations.

Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
generous, unstinting	extravagant, immoderate	shrewd, astute	cunning, sly
resolute, dogged	stubborn, mulish	sober, serious	morose, sullen
thrifty, frugal	stingy, parsimonious	witty, pithy	sharp-tongued, terse
diligent, industrious	work-obsessed, (a) workaholic	tolerant, broad-minded	unscrupulous unprincipled

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24