The story of pandas 【小题1】(live) in the US began with the historic visit of then-US president Richard Nixon and first lady Pat Nixon to China in 1972. After Mrs Nixon expressed interest 【小题2】 the animals, Premier Zhou Enlai presented a pair of giant pandas to the American people, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, as 【小题3】 gift.

The pair at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D. C. on April 16, 1972 【小题4】(attract) 20,000 people. In the following month, they received more than 1 million visitors. The pandas’ arrival marked a new chapter in the US-China history.

【小题5】 (mark) 50 years of hosting and caring for giant pandas, the zoo has been conducting a series of 【小题6】(event) online and offsite.

The events 【小题7】(schedule) to run through Aug. 27. They include the Giant Panda Family Tree Photo Gallery in the outdoor giant panda exhibit since March 16, the premiere (首映) of the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary The Miracle Panda on April 16 and 17 and other activities,   【小题8】 details can be found in full on the zoo’s website.

While the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is hosting the six-month 【小题9】(celebrate), experts from three other American zoos, which all have engaged in cooperative research programs with China over the years to learn about pandas, spoke with China Daily about 【小题10】(they) work to protect the beloved furry animals.

Orang-utans

Orang-utans live deep in the jungle of South-East Asia. For years, they were a complete mystery to humans. Hunters sometimes saw these shy animals from 【小题1】distance, but rarely got a good look at them. No one was certain 【小题2】they were a race of humans or a kind of monkey. Indeed, the name “Orang-utan” means “man of the forest”. Finally, about 150 years ago, scientists confirmed that orang-utans were a species of ape. Since then, people 【小题3】(be)able to come into increased contact with orang-utans. Consequently, we have learnt 【小题4】about them.

While the advance of civilization has brought us more knowledge about orang-utan, it has cause the orang-utan many problems, and now these wonderful creatures are threatened with extinction. In 1900, there were several hundred thousand orang-utans 【小题5】(live)in the wild. Now there are fewer than 24,000 【小题6】(leave)in the world. Some experts even believe that orang-utans will become extinct by the year 2023.

Humans are largely 【小题7】(blame)for this decline. Altogether, 80% of the orang-utan’s natural habitat has been destroyed by companies cutting down trees for financial gain. 【小题8】problem is the trade in orang-utan babies. Every year, thousands of these babies are smuggled to other countries,【小题9】they serve as zoo animals or as pets. Unfortunately, to capture an orang-utan baby, its mother must be killed as well.

In order to save the orang-utan, many conservation centres have been set up to preserve their natural habitats. Governments and volunteers are also working to rescue pet orang-utans and return them to the wild. However, this 【小题10】be too little, too late. The extinction of orang-utans is at a critical stage. People must take dramatic action if orang-utans are to survive in the future.

Scientists have wondered whether domesticated(驯养的)animals can recognize different human faces. Scientist Lea Lansade did an experiment 【小题1】 (find)out how well horses can recognize individual people in 【小题2】 (photograph). She and her team first taught the horses how to “choose” between two side-by-side images by 【小题3】 (touch)their noses to a computer screen. Then, the horses 【小题4】 (show)photos of their current keeper alongside faces of unfamiliar humans, and they had never seen photos of any of the people before. The horses 【小题5】 (correct)recognized their current keeper and ignored 【小题6】 strangers’ faces about 75 percent of the time, significantly better than chance.

What’s more, the horses also picked photos of their previous keeper, the person 【小题7】 they hadn’t seen in six months. In fact, even though the horses didn’t get it right every single time, they were at least as 【小题8】 (accuracy)in picking out their previous keeper as they were at recognizing their current one. The results suggest that not only can horses tell the difference between familiar 【小题9】 unfamiliar human faces, they understand the fact that photos are virtual representations of real life without any other help. And they’re even 【小题10】 (good)at this than our oldest animal friend: the domestic dog.