欢迎回家！旅美大熊猫贝贝乘专机回国

近日，在美国国家动物园出生长大的雄性大熊猫“贝贝”结束旅美生涯，踏上回国旅程。欢迎贝贝回家！据了解，目前美国国家动物园大熊猫馆还剩下它的爸爸“添添”和妈妈“美香”。

对此，网友表示非常“担忧”：它听不懂中文咋办？

Bei Bei, Washington's Eligible Bachelor Panda, Heads to China

Reuters

After a month of preparations and goodbyes, Bei Bei, the Washington National Zoo's most eligible giant panda bachelor, was on his way to China on Tuesday, where scientists hope he will help increase the population of his species.

The departure of 4-year-old Bei Bei to his parents' homeland had been pre-arranged and was announced last month by the zoo, where giant pandas have always been a visitor favorite.

eligible bachelor

钻石王老五；黄金单身汉；英文解释为“An eligible bachelor is a bachelor considered to be a particularly desirable potential husband, usually due to wealth, social status or other specific personal qualities.”

· eligible一词：

1）表示“具备条件的；有资格的；合格的”，英文解释为“having the necessary qualities or satisfying the necessary conditions”，举个🌰：

Are you eligible for early retirement/maternity leave?

你符合提前退休/休产假的条件吗？

2）表示“（作为结婚对象）理想的，合适的”，英文解释为“An eligible person is not married and is thought to be a suitable future marriage partner, especially because they are rich and attractive.”，举个🌰：

I can think of several eligible bachelors of my acquaintance.

在认识的人当中我能想到有几位条件不错的单身汉。

Bei Bei, which means "precious treasure," munched his last American breakfast of bamboo and leaf eater biscuits early Tuesday before entering a custom travel crate that was loaded onto a truck for the trip to Dulles International Airport, the zoo said.

From there, he began the 16-hour direct flight to Chengdu, China, aboard a dedicated Boeing 777F flown by FedEx and stocked with his favorite snacks, such as bamboo shoots, pears, and cooked sweet potatoes, it said.

munch

munch /mʌntʃ/ 表示“大声咀嚼”，英文解释为“If you munch food, you eat it by chewing it slowly, thoroughly, and rather noisily.”举个🌰：

He was munching on an apple.

他大口啃着苹果。

crate

表示“大木箱，大货箱，板条箱（运货用）”，英文解释为“a large wooden container for transporting goods”，如：a crate of bananas 一箱香蕉。

bamboo shoots

bamboo shoots，竹笋；冬笋；shoots熟词僻义，表示“新芽”，英文解释为“Shoots are plants that are beginning to grow, or new parts growing from a plant or tree.”举个🌰：

Prune established plants annually as new shoots appear.

每年嫩芽长出来时，要给长成的植物剪枝。

"Today is bittersweet," zoo Director Steve Monfort said. "We've cared for Bei Bei, and along with millions, watched him grow into a true ambassador for his species."

Visitors have spent the past few weeks getting their last looks as zookeepers got Bei Bei accustomed to his travel crate, first by training him to walk through it, then spending time inside with the door closed.

Breeding programs are key to efforts to reintroduce pandas into the wild. Thanks to reforestation to expand habitats in which the species can survive, pandas have been reclassified from "endangered" to "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas in the wild.

世界自然保护联盟

International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN

bittersweet

表示“苦乐参半的；苦中有乐的”，英文解释为“If you describe an experience as bittersweet, you mean that it has some happy aspects and some sad ones.”

补充：

· bittersweet chocolate=dark chocolate （未加牛奶的）纯巧克力，黑巧克力

Bittersweet chocolate is a sweetened form of dark chocolate that does not contain milk in either liquid or dry form. It is essentially a mixture of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, and sometimes vanilla.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian 

Bei Bei is not the first in his family to travel abroad. His parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, arrived from China in 2000, and his older siblings Tai Shan and Bao Bao both packed their bags for China when they came of breeding age.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are the zoo's only remaining giant pandas.

pack one's bags

表示“（收拾行李）离开某地；打点行李，整装待发”，英文解释为“If you pack your bags, you leave a place where you have been staying or living. To gather up one's belongings and leave a place”。

补充：

· bleeding-edge：relating to or describing systems, devices, or ideas that are so modern that they are still being developed 尖端的；最新的，如：bleeding-edge technology 尖端技术。

Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson did not rule out another breeding attempt, but added in an email that "Mei Xiang is of advanced maternal age so it is highly unlikely that she will have another cub."

An artificial insemination last year of Mei Xiang, who has been at the zoo for 20 years, failed to produce a cub.

The zoo has collaborated with Chinese scientists on a breeding program since it received its first pandas in 1972 following President Richard Nixon's visit to China.

rule out

表示“不考虑；排除；使…成为不可能，使…不可能发生；防止”，英文解释为“to prevent something from happening”举个🌰：

The police have not ruled him out as a suspect.

警察尚未排除他的嫌疑。

advanced maternal age

advanced maternal age 高龄（产妇）

Advanced maternal age can be described in two ways. It may be defined as the gradual, societal trend upward in age of mothers when they have their first children. Alternately, it may be viewed as the age of the mother when she has her first child. In this case, age 35 or above is medically considered advanced in age.

cub

表示“（狮、熊、狼等的）幼崽，幼兽”，英文解释为“a young lion, bear, wolf, etc.”

artificial insemination

表示“人工授精”，英文解释为“he process of making a woman or female animal pregnant by an artificial method of putting male sperm inside her, and not by sexual activity”。

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