Baby Pandas - Anglophonie

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Baby Pandas
(BBC News, 2013)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24223721
Is there anything cuter than a baby panda? How about fourteen cubs cuddled up in a giant crib?
No wonder China’s Chengdu research base is keen to show them off.
He says the biggest now weighs almost four kilos and the smallest just seven hundred grams – far more
valuable than gold. A panda can be rented to a foreign zoo for six-hundred thousand pounds a year.
Fewer than two thousand of the animals are left in the wild. Their habitat is shrinking and in captivity
pandas find it hard to reproduce.
Today, there’s been disappointing news from Australia. Its panda pair in Adelaide have failed to produce
a cub for the third successive year.
Tien, come on then!
But, back home in Britain, there’s still hope that Edinburgh’s Chan Chan will give birth. There’ve been
promising signs (that) she’s pregnant, and yesterday keepers shut the panda enclosure to the public
because Chan Chan had become sensitive to noise.
A cub would be the first British-born panda, but the baby would still belong to China. They are the
country’s national treasure and China is justifiably proud of this year’s clumsy cubs.
In Britain, we’re not greedy, we just want one -- Please! That would be enough!
Olivia Richwald, BBC News.
Vocabulary
01. cuter
02. How about..?
03. cubs
04. cuddled up
05. crib
06. No wonder
07. is keen to show them off
08. to weigh
09. far more valuable
10. can be rented
11. …are left in the wild
12. is shrinking
13. find it hard
14. have failed to produce
15. promising signs
16. pregnant
17. keepers
18. had become sensitive to noise
19. would still belong to
plus mignon
Que pensez-vous de…
(bébé animal) ici bébés pandas
pelotonnés
lit d’enfant, berceau
Ce n’est pas étonnant
est enthousiaste de les montrer / “étaler”
peser
beaucoup plus précieux (ayant bcp plus de valeur)
peut être loué
il reste (moins de…) à l’état sauvage
se rétrécit
ont du mal à
n’a pas réussi/ont échoué à produire
des signes prometteurs
enceinte / pleine
gardiens
était devenue sensible au bruit
appartiendrait encore à
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20. proud
21. clumsy
22. greedy
fier
maladroit
avide / on n’en demande pas tant
Baby Pandas
(BBC News, 2013)
Exercise: fill in the blanks with the correct words
Is there anything _c_______________ than a baby panda? _H__________a_____________ fourteen
(de) plus mignon
Que pensez-vous
_c___________c_____________u_____ in a giant _c_________?
bébés pelotonnés
berceau
_N_____w___________ China’s Chengdu research base is _k________ to _s________them _o______.
Pas étonnant
enthousiaste
(les) montrer / étaler
He says the biggest now _w______________ almost four kilos and the smallest just seven hundred
pèse
grams – _f_______m_______v_____________ than gold. A panda can be _r________________ to a
beaucoup plus précieux
loué
foreign zoo for six-hundred thousand pounds a year.
Fewer than two thousand of the animals are _l_______in the _w____________. Their habitat
(il reste)
à l’état sauvage
is _s________________ and in captivity pandas _f_______i____h_____________ to reproduce.
rétrécit
ont du mal à
Today, there’s been disappointing news from Australia.
Its panda
_h_________f______________ to produce a cub for the third successive year.
pair
in
Adelaide
n’a pas réussi à / a échoué à
Tien, come on then!
But, back home in Britain, there’s still hope that Edinburgh’s Chan Chan will give birth. There’ve been
promising signs (that) she’s _p________________, and yesterday _k_______________ shut
enceinte/pleine
les gardiens
the panda enclosure to the public because Chan Chan had become _s_______________ to _n_________.
sensible
(au)
bruit
A cub would be the first British-born panda, but the baby would still _b__________t______ China. They
appartiendrait
are the country’s national treasure and China is justifiably _p____________ of this year’s _c__________
fier
cubs.
In Britain, we’re not _g_____________ we just want one -- Please! That would be enough!
avide
maladroits