大熊猫的小秘密
Fun facts about giant pandas
Name: ________________ Date: ________
一个大熊猫妈妈，差不多有一百公斤。那么，它的孩子刚出生的时候，有多大呢？只有一百克，比一个苹果还小！
还有，熊猫宝宝刚出生的时候，身上不是黑色和白色的，是粉红色的，眼睛也还不能看东西。差不多一个星期以后，它的身上才有了一点儿黑色和白色。
大熊猫最喜欢吃竹子。它吃的东西，差不多都是竹子。它一天要吃十二个小时，吃十几公斤。
为什么要吃这么长时间？因为大熊猫是熊，它的身体更像吃肉的动物。竹子里有用的东西很少，所以它只能一直吃，一直吃，一直吃。
吃得多，上厕所也多。它们一天要去几十次！
它们的手也很有意思。你看，它好像有六个手指。不过，这个“第六个手指”是一块变大了的骨头。有了它，拿东西就很方便了。
今天，在中国的大山里，只有一千八百多只大熊猫。这个数字比以前多了，可是还是不多。所以在中国，大熊猫还有一个名字，叫“国宝”。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 黑色 | hēisè | black |
| 白色 | báisè | white |
| 眼睛 | yǎnjing | eye |
| 长 | cháng | long; length |
| 身体 | shēntǐ | body |
| 肉 | ròu | meat; flesh |
| 次 | cì | next; second (as in 次日) |
| 手 | shǒu | hand |
| 有意思 | yǒuyìsi | interesting; fun |
| 拿 | ná | to take; to hold; to carry |
| 大熊猫 | dàxióngmāo | giant panda |
| 差不多 | chàbuduō | almost; nearly |
English (for the teacher)
A mother giant panda weighs about a hundred kilos. So how big is her baby when it’s born? Only a hundred grams, smaller than an apple!
What’s more, a newborn panda isn’t black and white: it’s pink, and its eyes can’t see anything yet. Only after about a week does a little black and white show on its body.
Giant pandas love bamboo most of all. Almost everything they eat is bamboo. A panda eats for twelve hours a day, over ten kilos.
Why does it take so long? Because giant pandas are bears, and their bodies are more like a meat-eater’s. There is very little in bamboo they can use, so they just have to keep eating, and eating, and eating.
Eat a lot, and you go to the toilet a lot. They go dozens of times a day!
Their hands are interesting too. Look, it seems to have six fingers. But that “sixth finger” is really an enlarged bone. With it, picking things up is easy.
Today, in China’s mountains, there are only a little over 1,800 giant pandas in the wild. That’s more than before, but still not many. So in China the giant panda has another name: “national treasure”.