World News for Students of English

18-07-2014 07:00

It was a birthday party with a difference in Taiwan, as Taipei Zoo celebrated the first birthday of Yuan Zai the giant panda.

Visitors gathered early in the morning to see the year-old female, who had a traditional birthday celebration of “drawing lots” set up for her by zoo keepers.

In the activity, eight bamboo tubes with different names on them were hung up in Yuan Zai’s enclosure so she could choose her favourite by pulling down the bamboo tubes. Each tube represented an endangered species at the zoo, and Yuan Zai was to be used as a spokesperson for whichever species she chose.

She was also given a special birthday cake made from her favourite foods, including bamboo, apples, carrots and pineapples. While she didn’t share any of her cake with the visitors or press gather to celebrate her birthday, it was her party so she can do what she wanted.

According to Taipei zoo, the panda cub has attracted more than 1.6 million visitors to the zoo since she was born.

Difficult words: drawing lots (making a chance decision by drawing something like straws or stones), enclosure (area surrounded by a wall or fence), endangered species (animal kind which may die out soon), press (media), cub (baby of a wild animal).

Source: www.itn.co.uk