小熊猫在美国动物园庆祝一岁生日｜Giant panda cub celebrates 1st birthday at US zoo

No one enjoyed a bigger birthday party than Xiao Qi Ji did in Washington on Saturday.

没有能比小奇迹星期六在华盛顿享受的更盛大的生日派对了。

While the COVID-19 pandemic has made gatherings almost impossible, the giant panda cub drew hundreds of visitors to the National Zoo to celebrate his first birthday.

虽然疫情使聚集几乎不再发生，但这只大熊猫幼崽吸引了数百名游客到国家动物园庆祝他的第一个生日。

Xiao Qi Ji, or "Little Miracle", first savored a specially made fruitsicle cake prepared for his mother, Mei Xiang, early in the morning at their outdoor habitat. The frozen cake was decorated with sweet potato, apple, carrot, pear, sugar cane, banana and bamboo.
小奇迹一早在户外栖息地首先品尝了为其母亲美香准备的特制的水果蛋糕。冰冻的蛋糕上点缀着红薯、苹果、胡萝卜、梨、甘蔗、香蕉和竹子。

The cub apparently enjoyed the treat. Near the end of the first course of his breakfast, he lay on his back and held the heart-shaped top of the cake with his little paws, licking and sucking the frozen diluted apple juice.

小熊猫显然很喜欢这种待遇。在早餐的第一道菜快结束时，它趴在地上，用它的小爪子抓着蛋糕的心形顶部，舔吸着冷冻的稀释苹果汁。

After about 45 minutes, the pair walked over to Xiao Qi Ji’s cake — a bigger one. It was adorned with a giant, red number 1 on top. The cub's father, Tian Tian, was in the neighboring habitat.

大约45分钟后，母子走到小奇迹的蛋糕旁—一个更大的蛋糕。蛋糕上面装饰着一个巨大的红色数字1。小熊猫的父亲添添就在旁边的栖息地。

Visitors enjoyed watching the mother and son tucking into the treats, with many streaming the scene live on social media accounts, and the zoo screened the show for the public through its Giant Panda Cam.

游客们喜欢看这对母子享用美食，许多人在社交媒体账户上直播了这一场景，动物园通过其大熊猫摄像机为公众放映了这一场景。

Well-wishers included Qin Gang, Chinese ambassador to the United States, who made a special video clip to wish Xiao Qi Ji a "very happy and fabulous birthday".

送来祝福的有中国驻美国大使秦刚，他制作了一个特别的视频片段，祝愿小奇迹“度过开心美好的生日”。

"You came into the world last year during the pandemic. At such a difficult time, your arrival and every bit of your growth have given us joy and hope. For us, you are a miracle, and that's why you are called Xiao Qi Ji," Qin said.

“你是在去年新冠疫情期间来到这个世界的。在这样一个困难的时刻，你的到来和你成长的每一点滴都给了我们快乐和希望。对我们来说，你是一个奇迹，这就是为什么我们称你为‘小奇迹’”。

"You have truly added a splash of color to the exchanges between Chinese and American people," the envoy added.

“你为中美人民之间的交往又添上一抹亮色，”秦刚补充说到。

Brandie Smith, acting director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, said the panda cub is more like his mother than Bei Bei, a cub that was born and lived at the zoo previously.

史密斯索尼亚国家动物园和保护生物学研究所的代理主管史密斯说，这只熊猫幼崽比之前在动物园出生和生活的幼崽贝贝更像他的母亲。

"He's a lot more cautious, he's a lot more thoughtful. And it's been so great to see him develop and his personality come out," said Smith, who has worked at the zoo for 13 years, starting as curator of giant pandas.

“他更谨慎，他更有思想。看到他成长出独立的个性，真是太好了”史密斯说。史密斯在动物园工作了13年，刚上任时担任大熊猫馆长，

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the zoo staff members have been working safely, wearing masks and keeping a distance from one another.

自疫情开始以来，动物园的工作人员一直在安全地工作，戴着口罩，彼此保持距离。

"One of the great things of working with pandas is a chance to work with our colleagues in China, and with a pandemic, we haven't been able to visit them in person," Smith told China Daily.

“大熊猫合作成功之处在于我们有机会与我们在中国的同事一起工作，但由于疫情的爆发，我们还不能亲自去拜访他们，”史密斯告诉中国日报。

Instead, the zoo and Chinese colleagues had email exchanges and video calls. "The information goes back and forth, but it will be nice when we can finally see our friends again in person," she said.

“相反，动物园和中国同事有电子邮件交流和视频通话，”她说：“虽然我们能够及时通过线上进行交流，但如果我们能够再次见到朋友们，我们会非常开心。”

Under a new agreement that the zoo signed with China, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the giant panda couple, will stay at the zoo along with their son for another three years, after an earlier deal inked in 2015 expired last December, according to the zoo.

根据动物园与中国签署的新协议，大熊猫夫妇美香和添添将和他们的儿子一起在动物园再呆三年，而早先在2015年签署的协议已于去年12月到期。

"We signed a contract last year, and it kept pandas here. It keeps pandas here through 2023, and then we'll start talking. Actually, we just began our meetings to talk about the next steps when this contract ends," Smith said.

“我们去年签署了一份合同，让大熊猫在这里一直到2023年，然后我们将开始讨论。事实上，我们刚刚开始开会，讨论这个合同结束后的下一步行动，”史密斯说。

As a public health precaution due to COVID-19, the zoo had been temporarily closed since March of last year, but it reopened in late April this year when infection cases dwindled in Washington, DC.

因为新冠疫情，动物园需要采取公共卫生预防措施。动物园自去年3月起暂时关闭，又在今年4月底华盛顿感染病例减少时重新开放。

Effective July 30, all visitors age 2 and older are required to wear a mask in all indoor spaces at the zoo, regardless of their vaccination status.Bryan Amaral, senior curator of animal care science at the zoo, said that the pandas will not have noticed much difference during the pandemic other than people wearing masks.

从7月30日起，所有2岁以上的游客无论他们的疫苗接种情况如何，在动物园的所有室内都必须戴上口罩。动物园的动物护理科学高级馆长布莱恩·阿马拉尔说，在疫情期间，除了人们戴上口罩外，大熊猫不会注意到有什么不同。

"We've been really successful as far as how we've adapted to the pandemic; nothing's really affected us, which is the great news," he said.
他说：“就我们如何适应疫情而言，我们做的真的很成功；没有什么真正影响到了我们，这是个好消息”。

Among the visitors was Karen Wille, who works for Pandas International, a US nonprofit organization, who said she has visited pandas in China eight times.

在参观者中，为美国非营利组织熊猫国际工作的凯伦·维尔说，她已经在中国探访过大熊猫八次。

"They're just amazing, magical animals that have captured the hearts of so many," she said. "It inspires people to learn about conservation, and also to help protect other animals as well."

她说：“它们是神奇的、有魔力的动物，俘获了这么多人的心。它激励着人们去学习自然保护，同时也去倾力保护其他动物。”

The National Zoo has cooperated with China to study, care for and save the giant panda for nearly half a century.

国家动物园与中国合作研究、照顾和拯救大熊猫已有近半个世纪。

Xiao Qi Ji is the fourth surviving cub born at the zoo in more than four decades since the first pair, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, arrived in April 1972, weeks after then-US president Richard Nixon's historic China visit.

小奇迹是第四只在动物园出生的幼崽。自1972年4月第一对大熊猫玲玲和兴兴来到动物园已过去了40多年，那时是美国总统理查德·尼克松对中国进行历史性访问几周后。

Over the next 20 years, that pair produced five cubs, but none survived more than a few days.

在接下来的20年里，这对夫妇产了五只幼崽，但都没能活过几天。

The arrival of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian in 2000 changed the situation. Since 2005, Mei Xiang, age 23 now, has given birth to four surviving cubs.
In China, the number of giant pandas has increased from 1,100 in the wild 40 years ago to more than 1,800 now. The species is no longer listed as "endangered".

2000年，美香和添添的到来改变了这一局面。自2005年以来，现年23岁的梅香已经生下了四只幼崽。

在中国，野生大熊猫的数量已经从40年前的1100只增加到现在的1800多只。该物种已不再被列为“濒危物种”。

1. cub

美 [kʌb] 英 [kʌb]

n.（熊、狮、狐狸等的）幼兽

v.(野兽)生仔；捉幼狐[幼兽]

adj.没经验的

网络:小熊；古巴(Cuba)；幼崽

2. dilute

美&英 [daɪ'ljuːtɪd]

v.稀释；(加水等使液体或颜色)变稀；变淡；冲淡:

adj.稀释的；淡的；稀薄的

网络:冲淡的；摊薄后的收益

3. adorn

美 [ə'dɔrn] 英 [ə'dɔː(r)n]

v.装饰；装扮

网络:打扮；使生色；修饰

4. curator

美 [kjə'reɪtər] 英 [kjʊ'reɪtə(r)]

n.（博物馆或美术馆等的）馆长

网络:策展人；监护人；管理者

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小熊猫在美国动物园庆祝一岁生日｜Giant panda cub celebrates 1st birthday