This year is the year of ji according to the Chinese zodiac that features 12 animals. Chinese words are made up of characters which function like root words in English. A single character is usually ambiguous in meaning. In the Year of the Ox, for instance, we were debating whether it should be the year of the bull, the cow, the heifer, or the steer. The choice has a lot to do with age, gender, as well as surgical procedures involving testicles. The word ji creates similar difficulties, although perhaps not the Year of the Cock, for obvious reasons, but how about chicken, hen, or rooster?

按照中國的十二生肖來看，今年是雞年。漢語由字組成，就好像英語的詞根一樣。單個的字通常意義模糊。舉例來說，我們會爭論牛年的“牛”到底是公牛、奶牛、小母牛、還是肉牛。我們的選擇和牛的年齡、性別、以及是否閹割過都有關系。雞年的“雞”也遇到了同樣的麻煩，雖然很明顯不是男人的那個“雞”，但是到底是小雞、母雞還是公雞呢？

My first choice would be rooster. These zodiac signs are all about symbolism if you ask me, though there are people who believe that, because you are born in a monkey year, you monkey around doing monkey business. I don’t believe it. Just as I don’t believe that dog-year people bite, bark or pee near a fire hydrant. Roosters fare better on my symbolism scale. In Chinese, "rising to the crow of the rooster" is a sign of a "gritty", hard-working person. According to recent psychological findings, such people are the salt of the earth. For this reason alone, I had hoped I could raise a rooster in my backyard, but homeowner association bylaws and city ordinances do not encourage it. I will download a cock-a-doodle-doo ringtone instead.

我的第一選擇是公雞（rooster）。在我看來所有生肖形象都是具有象征意義的，但是有些人認為因為你屬猴，所以你就會像猴子一樣調皮搗蛋。我不這樣認為，就像我不認為屬狗的人會亂叫、咬人、或者在消防栓底下撒尿一樣。從象征意義上來說，公雞的形象更好。在漢語里，“聞雞起舞”往往是“有毅力”、勤勞的人的表現。根據最近心理學方面的一些發現，這樣的人是這個世界上不可或缺的。僅僅是這一個原因，我曾經就希望在后院里養一只大公雞，但是業主委員會章程和城市管理條例卻并不鼓勵我這樣做。相反我會下載一個公雞打鳴的鈴聲。

Calling 2024 the Year of the Chicken would also work. Chicken commonly refers to someone lacking courage in English, but I have found the image of chickens is being rehabilitated, and it can even mean courage to pursue a good life, as shown in the movie Chicken Run. As a translator, when asked what the novels I have translated have in common, I say most of them have a character who tries to raise chickens. Raising chickens brings us back to a simpler time when people grow their own food instead of depending on food whose price includes transportation and marketing costs along with executives’ salaries.

說雞年的“雞”是小雞（chicken）也講得通。在英語里，小雞通常指那些膽小的弱雞，但是我發現小雞的形象正在好轉，甚至可以用來形容追求美好生活的勇氣，例如電影《小雞快跑（Chicken Run）》。作為一名譯者，當被問及我所翻譯的小說有什么共同之處時，我說大多數小說里都有一個養雞的人。養雞使我們回到了一個更簡單一些的時代，人們種植自己的食物，而不是依賴于那些價格包括了運輸費用、營銷成本和高管工資的食物。

In rural China, when a guest comes, the hosts will kill a rooster or hen to serve as a main dish. Farmers raise a limited number of roosters or hens, and chicken eggs are an important source of nutrition for the family; one should not take such hospitality for granted. When I first came to America as a poor graduate student, I found chicken to be a very cheap grocery buy. I often cooked a whole bunch of chicken wings or legs at one time which would last me several days. If we are what we eat, I should have grown feathers by now. When I went back home, my mom again had a hen killed for me. I told her I have had a lot of chicken already. My mom said: "But it is homegrown!" She was right. She always is. Chicken is the food for the ordinary men and women, whether they are the farmers in China who let their chickens roam wild, or an office worker who watches the Cowboys play the Packers on the TV, while nibbling salt and vinegar chicken wings.

在中國農村，當有客人來的時候，主人家會殺一只公雞或者母雞來當做主菜。農民會養少量的公雞或母雞，而雞蛋是家庭重要的營養來源；吃雞肉的客人不應把這樣的盛情款待當做理所當然。我第一次來美國的時候還是一個窮研究生，當時我發現可以在雜貨店里很便宜地就買到雞肉。我通常會一次煮一整串雞翅或雞腿，這樣接下來好幾天都會有肉吃。如果吃什么補什么的話，我現在估計應該已經長出雞毛了吧。當我回國之后，我母親又為我殺了一只母雞。我告訴她我已經吃了夠多雞肉了。但是我媽說：“這是自家養的（國產的）。”她是對的，她總是對的。雞肉是平民百姓的食物，無論他們是讓雞在野外瀟灑的中國農民，還是一邊看橄欖球比賽、一邊啃著鹽醋雞翅的辦公室職員。

I would also call 2024 the Year of the Hen for the same reason. In addition to hens that become food, think of all the eggs we eat, boiled, poached or scrambled, in cakes, burritos, casseroles, egg drop soups, or even pasta with buttered egg sauce. We should show proper respect for all these hens and eggs. Their lives matter. If this article makes you so guilty that you want to convert to a vegan lifestyle, do it. It is honorable if you do, and may help to resuscitate your New Year resolution to become a better person with the coming of the Lunar New Year. However, for the rest of us who still relish some fried chicken, do these feathered friends a favor by not wasting any of your food－and, of course, eat less chicken. The environment will thank you, the chickens will too. Happy Year of the Rooster, Chicken, Hen, however you want to call it.

同理，說雞年的“雞”是母雞也說得過去。除了母雞本身是一種食物外，想一想那些我們吃掉的煮雞蛋、荷包蛋，想一想那些我們加在蛋糕、蛋卷、蛋花湯、甚至蛋黃醬意大利面里的雞蛋吧。我們應該對所有這些母雞和雞蛋表示應有的尊敬。母雞的命也是命！如果這篇文章讓你很內疚，以至于你想改吃素的話，那就那樣做吧！那樣做是光榮的，可能會幫助你重拾新年決心，在來年成為一個更好的人。但是，對于剩下的我們這些仍然想來一口炸雞的人，幫幫忙不要浪費食物！當然，也要少吃一點雞肉。環境會感謝你的，雞們也會！“雞”年快樂，無論哪個雞！

This year is the year of ji according to the Chinese zodiac that features 12 animals. Chinese words are made up of characters which function like root words in English. A single character is usually ambiguous in meaning. In the Year of the Ox, for instance, we were debating whether it should be the year of the bull, the cow, the heifer, or the steer. The choice has a lot to do with age, gender, as well as surgical procedures involving testicles. The word ji creates similar difficulties, although perhaps not the Year of the Cock, for obvious reasons, but how about chicken, hen, or rooster?

按照中國的十二生肖來看，今年是雞年。漢語由字組成，就好像英語的詞根一樣。單個的字通常意義模糊。舉例來說，我們會爭論牛年的“牛”到底是公牛、奶牛、小母牛、還是肉牛。我們的選擇和牛的年齡、性別、以及是否閹割過都有關系。雞年的“雞”也遇到了同樣的麻煩，雖然很明顯不是男人的那個“雞”，但是到底是小雞、母雞還是公雞呢？

My first choice would be rooster. These zodiac signs are all about symbolism if you ask me, though there are people who believe that, because you are born in a monkey year, you monkey around doing monkey business. I don’t believe it. Just as I don’t believe that dog-year people bite, bark or pee near a fire hydrant. Roosters fare better on my symbolism scale. In Chinese, "rising to the crow of the rooster" is a sign of a "gritty", hard-working person. According to recent psychological findings, such people are the salt of the earth. For this reason alone, I had hoped I could raise a rooster in my backyard, but homeowner association bylaws and city ordinances do not encourage it. I will download a cock-a-doodle-doo ringtone instead.

我的第一選擇是公雞（rooster）。在我看來所有生肖形象都是具有象征意義的，但是有些人認為因為你屬猴，所以你就會像猴子一樣調皮搗蛋。我不這樣認為，就像我不認為屬狗的人會亂叫、咬人、或者在消防栓底下撒尿一樣。從象征意義上來說，公雞的形象更好。在漢語里，“聞雞起舞”往往是“有毅力”、勤勞的人的表現。根據最近心理學方面的一些發現，這樣的人是這個世界上不可或缺的。僅僅是這一個原因，我曾經就希望在后院里養一只大公雞，但是業主委員會章程和城市管理條例卻并不鼓勵我這樣做。相反我會下載一個公雞打鳴的鈴聲。

Calling 2024 the Year of the Chicken would also work. Chicken commonly refers to someone lacking courage in English, but I have found the image of chickens is being rehabilitated, and it can even mean courage to pursue a good life, as shown in the movie Chicken Run. As a translator, when asked what the novels I have translated have in common, I say most of them have a character who tries to raise chickens. Raising chickens brings us back to a simpler time when people grow their own food instead of depending on food whose price includes transportation and marketing costs along with executives’ salaries.

說雞年的“雞”是小雞（chicken）也講得通。在英語里，小雞通常指那些膽小的弱雞，但是我發現小雞的形象正在好轉，甚至可以用來形容追求美好生活的勇氣，例如電影《小雞快跑（Chicken Run）》。作為一名譯者，當被問及我所翻譯的小說有什么共同之處時，我說大多數小說里都有一個養雞的人。養雞使我們回到了一個更簡單一些的時代，人們種植自己的食物，而不是依賴于那些價格包括了運輸費用、營銷成本和高管工資的食物。

In rural China, when a guest comes, the hosts will kill a rooster or hen to serve as a main dish. Farmers raise a limited number of roosters or hens, and chicken eggs are an important source of nutrition for the family; one should not take such hospitality for granted. When I first came to America as a poor graduate student, I found chicken to be a very cheap grocery buy. I often cooked a whole bunch of chicken wings or legs at one time which would last me several days. If we are what we eat, I should have grown feathers by now. When I went back home, my mom again had a hen killed for me. I told her I have had a lot of chicken already. My mom said: "But it is homegrown!" She was right. She always is. Chicken is the food for the ordinary men and women, whether they are the farmers in China who let their chickens roam wild, or an office worker who watches the Cowboys play the Packers on the TV, while nibbling salt and vinegar chicken wings.

在中國農村，當有客人來的時候，主人家會殺一只公雞或者母雞來當做主菜。農民會養少量的公雞或母雞，而雞蛋是家庭重要的營養來源；吃雞肉的客人不應把這樣的盛情款待當做理所當然。我第一次來美國的時候還是一個窮研究生，當時我發現可以在雜貨店里很便宜地就買到雞肉。我通常會一次煮一整串雞翅或雞腿，這樣接下來好幾天都會有肉吃。如果吃什么補什么的話，我現在估計應該已經長出雞毛了吧。當我回國之后，我母親又為我殺了一只母雞。我告訴她我已經吃了夠多雞肉了。但是我媽說：“這是自家養的（國產的）。”她是對的，她總是對的。雞肉是平民百姓的食物，無論他們是讓雞在野外瀟灑的中國農民，還是一邊看橄欖球比賽、一邊啃著鹽醋雞翅的辦公室職員。

I would also call 2024 the Year of the Hen for the same reason. In addition to hens that become food, think of all the eggs we eat, boiled, poached or scrambled, in cakes, burritos, casseroles, egg drop soups, or even pasta with buttered egg sauce. We should show proper respect for all these hens and eggs. Their lives matter. If this article makes you so guilty that you want to convert to a vegan lifestyle, do it. It is honorable if you do, and may help to resuscitate your New Year resolution to become a better person with the coming of the Lunar New Year. However, for the rest of us who still relish some fried chicken, do these feathered friends a favor by not wasting any of your food－and, of course, eat less chicken. The environment will thank you, the chickens will too. Happy Year of the Rooster, Chicken, Hen, however you want to call it.

同理，說雞年的“雞”是母雞也說得過去。除了母雞本身是一種食物外，想一想那些我們吃掉的煮雞蛋、荷包蛋，想一想那些我們加在蛋糕、蛋卷、蛋花湯、甚至蛋黃醬意大利面里的雞蛋吧。我們應該對所有這些母雞和雞蛋表示應有的尊敬。母雞的命也是命！如果這篇文章讓你很內疚，以至于你想改吃素的話，那就那樣做吧！那樣做是光榮的，可能會幫助你重拾新年決心，在來年成為一個更好的人。但是，對于剩下的我們這些仍然想來一口炸雞的人，幫幫忙不要浪費食物！當然，也要少吃一點雞肉。環境會感謝你的，雞們也會！“雞”年快樂，無論哪個雞！