bearcub Lyrics

February 02, 2008
Hug Your Teddy Bear
Lesson by Zack Laohavoravudhikul

If you are a teddy bear fan, you will love reading the story below about a lovely polar bear cub in Germany named 'Flocke'. As you read it, try to find out what her name means and why she has been adopted by the zoo keeper instead of being left to be raised by her own mother. Do you have a nice name for your pet at home? If not, why don't you discuss with your friends and come up with a nice name for it?

come up with - think of แต่งขึ้นมา

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Bear cub 'Flocke' opens eyes
AP

Photo: Bear keeper Horst Maussner yesterday brushes five-week-old polar bear cub Flocke at Nuremberg Zoo, Germany. The media predicted a bright future for the cub, separated from its disturbed mother at the zoo.

Berlin - Germany's latest famous polar bear cub has opened her eyes for the first time - and it appears she may be cross-eyed.

Though her eyes opened on Tuesday as tiny slits, zookeeper Stefanie Krueger said it appears she is ''a little crossed-eyed''. However, Flocke, as the keepers at Nuremberg Zoo have dubbed the yet-to-be-named cub, seems to be developing just fine and veterinarian Bernhard Neurohr said he can already see her teeth shimmering through her gums.

''We are cautiously optimistic we'll succeed in hand-raising her,'' he said.

The cub gets bottle-fed with milk every four hours and already weighs 2.56kg.

''By now I can distinguish her different noises and know what the little one wants,'' said Flocke's other keeper, Petra Fritz. ''I rub her tummy, for example.'' Over the weekend, the five-week-old got her own website, and the zoo and the city of Nuremberg say they already have 22,000 name suggestions.

Many are traditional German names - but among the suggestions are Snow White, Aicha and Yuki Chan. More than two million people had visited the site by Tuesday afternoon. In German, flocke means flake, as in snow flake.

Flocke was taken from her mother, Vera, last week, amid concerns she could harm or even kill the newborn. Keepers spotted Vera carrying the cub in her jaws and tossing it around.

A year ago, another polar bear cub in Germany, Knut, was hand-raised by his keepers and became a celebrity after his mother rejected him.

cub - young animal (especially a young bear or tiger) ลูกของสัตว์
disturbed - emotionally unstable ซึ่งมีอาการโรคประสาทหรือโรคจิต
polar bear - large white bear that is native to the North and South Poles หมีขาวขั้วโลก
cross-eyed - having eyes that are turned inwards ตาเหล่
slits - narrow cut or opening รอยยาว
dubbed - named ขนานนาม
veterinarian - expert in the medical treatment of animals, animal doctor สัตวแพทย์
shimmering - shining unevenly ส่องแวววาว
gums - fleshy tissue which covers the bones of the jaw and the lower portions of the teeth เหงือก
optimistic - believing that good things will happen โดยคาดหวังสิ่งที่ดี
distinguish - notice the difference between two things จำแนกความแตกต่าง
keeper - a person who works in a zoo, taking care of the animals คนเลี้ยงและให้อาหารสัตว์
tummy - stomach ท้อง (คำไม่เป็นทางการ)
flake - a small thin piece of snow เกล็ด
amid - in the middle of ท่ามกลาง
newborn - recently born infant แรกเกิด
celebrity - famous person ผู้มีชื่อเสียง
rejected - denied, turned down ไม่ยอมรับ