Posted:2006-12-11|Source:CHENGDU TIME|No. of Views:
Mr and Mrs Leavitt visiting a Giant Panda Cub (Picture).
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mr Michael Leavitt and his wife, Mrs Jacalyn Leavitt, have completed their visit to Sichuan Province and proceeded to visit Guangzhou. He visited the Chengdu Research Centre of Giant Panda Breeding & Conservation and the Sichuan Provincial People¡¯s Hospital.
Last morning, Mr Leavitt and his group of visitors have visited the Chengdu Research Centre of Giant Panda Breeding. Mr and Mrs Leavitt hugged the two giant panda cubs with the lightest weight among all giant pandas born this year. These two cubs are named ¡°51 grams¡± and ¡°Little Treasure¡± respectively. When taking a photo together with the two cubs, Mr and Mrs Leavitt talked to the cubs.
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They only let go of the paws of the cubs after a long time, reluctantly. When they saw a one-year-old cub clutching onto an apple and eating happily, Mr and Mrs Leavitt also smiled happily. They gently walked next to it, and asked curiously, ¡°Normally, what does a giant panda eat?¡± The workers at the Centre explained to Mr Leavitt that giant pandas feed on milk when they are still young. They can only eat bamboos and apples when they have grown up.
Mr Leavitt could not help but to bring an apple to a cub¡¯s mouth. The cub, on sawing the latest food, had to use its mouth and chest to hug the apple, since it already had one apple. Now, both of its paws are clinching onto an apple. It looked from the left to the right, and from the right to the left, but was unsure of which one should he eat first. Mr and Mrs Leavitt were indeed amused by the cuddly cubs. They felt that the cub was very cute.
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Mrs Leavitt is the chairman for an organization in USA, making sure of the mental healthiness of children. When she met the giant pandas intimately, she discovered that the logo of this organization is actually very similar to the shape of giant panda¡¯s paws. This surprised her much.
Before the couple left, Mr Leavitt presented a memorial magazine to the Centre as a token of appreciation, while the Centre presented them a few giant panda soft toys and Sichuanese embroidery products.
Yesterday at 11.45am, Mr Leavitt and his group of visitors proceeded to visit the Sichuan Provincial People¡¯s Hospital. At the Centre for Research on Human Molecule and Heredity, Mr Leavitt had a conversation with the chief of the Centre, Dr Yang Zhenglin, whose many articles were published on the SCIENCE magazine in the USA. ¡°Really?¡± Mrs Leavitt was surprised. When confirmed by Dr Yang, Mrs Leavitt turned around and told the responsible personnel of the Centre accompanying her that they have done a good job.
Original text in Chinese and the photo title are adapted from Chengdu Commercial Daily, while other two photos are adapted from Reuters. Translated by Yours truly, Samuel.
