Baby panda dies 熊猫宝宝不幸夭折

媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

上周在日本出生并引起大众兴奋的熊猫宝宝不幸因肺炎而夭折。这只雄性熊猫宝宝是东京动物园24年来的第一只熊猫新生儿。请听BBC记者Viv Marsh发回的报道：

The sorrow in Japan at the death of the baby panda was as heartfelt as the euphoria at its long-awaited birth. NHK television broke into its programming to announce the news. The director of Ueno zoo in Tokyo wiped away tears as he explained that the male cub had inhaled milk while breastfeeding, leading to pneumonia. The baby was found motionless on his mother's chest: efforts to revive him failed.

He was conceivednaturally by two giant pandas sent from China last year just before the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The animals provided some welcome lighter news, and their baby's every wriggle was chronicledavidly in the Japanese media. China is famed for its panda diplomacy: last week Beijing expressed hope that the panda's birth would improve its testy relations with Japan.

On Wednesday the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said China lamented the loss of the cub and believed the Japanese people would be grieving too. But panda births in captivity are notoriously fraught. Some conservationists say these endangered animals are just too rare to be traded as diplomatic trophies - and that moving them between countries is a further risk to their health.