TEXT II

1. Answer the following questions.

– Do you happen to know why Troja collapsed?

– What does the expression "Trojan gift" mean?

2. Check the pronunciation of the following words in a dictionary. See Ap­pendix III. Practice saying them:

Rival, resolve, unveil, urge, coincidence, renegade, endangered, scientific, entourage, enclosure, politics.

CHINA’S PANDA POLITICS

They spend most of their lives asleep. They bite. But in the realm of diplomacy, giant pandas have few ri­vals. For more than a thousand years, China’s rulers have used the coveted beasts to win allies abroad. The 20^th century’s most celebrated pair, Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling, arrived in Washington after Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. Now Beijing is hoping two other furry am­bassadors can help resolve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, the 56-year armed standoff between mainland China and Taiwan. When Chinese officials unveiled a pair of cubs early this year, calling them “a gift” to the island, the people of Tai­wan went wild. Polls say more than 65 percent of Taiwan’s population are in favor of accepting the mainland’s offer.

But Taiwan’s president, Chen Shui-bian, is urging his government to say no. He fears that the pair would be what the press is calling “Trojan pandas.” Skeptics see the animals as a perfect symbol for Beijing: no matter how friendly they look, watch out for their claws. They say it’s no coincidence that their names are Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, echoing the Mandarin word for “reunion”: tuanyuan.

Since 1949, Beijing has consid­ered Taiwan a renegade province that must be reunited with the main­land — by force, if necessary. In past years, China’s armed forces have staged massive military exercises di­rectly across the straits from the is­land, and recently Chen has been testing Beijing’s nerves his campaign for Taiwan to be treated as a sovereign state. In an e-mailed newsletter last week, Chen urged the Beijing leadership to let Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan stay home in the mountains of Sichuan, not locked up in a zoo. “Pandas brought up in cages or given as gifts will not be happy,” he said. The analogy to Taiwan’s freedom was hard to miss.

The pandas’ role in the dispute is nit merely symbolic. On the contrary, accepting the pandas as a gift could be equal to accepting Beijing’s claim that Taiwan belongs to mainland China. According to the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Beijing can make a gift of pandas to any zoo it likes within China. Foreign zoos are different: they can get animals only on loan, in the form of a scientific exchange. For U.S. zoos, the price of those “scientific” deals can be well over $1 million a year. Nevertheless, Beijing insists that the pandas would be “a goodwill gift” to Taiwan, “free and unconditional.” “It’s a very clever gesture,” says Lo Chih-Cheng, head of a Taipei think tank. ‘If we accept them, it will trigger a domino effect”.

And yet most people can’t resist pandas. Pat Buchanan, a member of Nixon’s 1972 China entourage, recalls how the White House, preoccupied with geostrategic issues, was utterly unprepared for the wild uproar that met Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling at the National Zoo. “The Chinese really scored heavily. We didn’t realize what a smash they would be.” Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture is expected to give an official recommendation on whether to accept the pandas in early April, but local zoos are already investing heavily, hoping they will become the pandas’ new home. The Taipei Zoo is building a $6 million climate-controlled “five star” panda enclosure. The private Zoological Society of Taipei has spent more than $100,000 to train zoo staff on the care and feeding of pandas. People can’t wait.

Chinese authorities are urging Chen to respect the people’s wishes. Never mind the obvious irony. What-ever Chen does, the panda lovers have a good chance of getting their wish sooner or later. Chen’s term expires in two years. His approval ratings have sunk to miserable levels, and his pro-independence party lost badly in recent local elections. Meanwhile, Beijing has been carrying on a charm offensive, cutting duties on goods from Taiwan and inviting Chen’s leading political opponents to visit the mainland. Mainland officials say that Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan are nothing more than a continuation of that policy. They add that pandas symbolize peace and friendship that has nothing to do with politics.

Adapted from Melinda and George Wehrfritz,

Newsweek

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