Pandas are loved by people around the world. The panda is one of China’s symbols. In February, pandas including Xiang Xiang and Yong Ming have come back home. Before this, they were lent to Japan.

Since the early 1980s, China has stopped giving away pandas as gifts because of their falling numbers. In the 1990s, China started lending pandas to other countries for a period of 10 years. Today about 60 pandas are living abroad.

How do overseas zoos make sure they have what the pandas need to be comfortable? Wei Rongping, the head of a panda base in Sichuan, told us that those zoos need to meet several conditions. For example, there must be a healthy and safe environment. Take a zoo in Netherlands as an example. In 2017, to welcome pandas Xing Ya and Wu Wen, the zoo built a Chinese-style panda house named Pandasia. It offers all the comforts a panda couple might want: a clinic (诊疗所), a cold room to store bamboo and a room for them to be ready to have babies.

Also, a panda may eat 12 to 38 kilograms of bamboo in a day. The zoo must give pandas enough food. Pandas Si Hai and Jing Jing traveled to a park in Qatar in 2022. Every week, the park buys 1,000 kg of fresh bamboo from their hometown, Sichuan. And the keepers there also learn the Sichuan dialect (方言) to better talk to the pandas.

It’s often said that children are the apple of their parents’ eyes. As a son or daughter, you may also want to make your parents proud. Here are certain things you can do.

Talk to Them As Often As You Can

Every parent wants their children to trust them enough to talk to them when they are happy and when they are feeling low. Therefore, don’t be afraid to call your parents when you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, just as the same way you would call them when happy. Share your achievements, both big and small. Your parents are your biggest cheerleaders.

One of the best things you can do for your parents is to be patient with them, which makes them feel loved and appreciated. As they grow older, you need to understand that they become slower or may do things differently from the way they used to. Therefore be patient with them.

If you live at home, you can be a good son or daughter by helping around with house chores. Start by making sure that your parents don’t have to clean for you. Keep your room tidy and help to keep other areas of the home clean. Help with washing, make dinner and even set the table. Helping around makes sure they have time to rest and do other things. It feels good when they know they have someone who can keep things together at home.

You can do everything on this list, but without respecting your parents, nothing else you do matters. When they are talking, you listen and do not interrupt（打断） them. If you have done wrong, apologize and avoid repeating the same mistake again. When you are out with friends, call your parents and let them know you’re okay. When you show them respect, it can go a long way in strengthening your relationship with them.

Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don't have enough time with their family. They can’t take care of things at home. They don’t have time to relax.

Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1,646 hours a year on work. In Japan, however, people work about 2,159 hours a year. That means a Japanese employee works 513 more hours a year than a French employee. That is more than 12weeks, or three months, of extra work!

Why do people work so many hours? Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don't pay overtime. Their employees don't get extra pay for extra (额外的)work. These people work extra hours because they think it's their duty. Some people are afraid they will lose their jobs if they don't work extra hours.

Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation. In Germany, they get six weeks. In the United States, two weeks of vacations is the average. Many people don’t even use all of their vacation days. In a study in Great Britain, fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. "If that is true, there will be a lot of dull people in the world.