A pair of pandas being lent by China to Japan was set to arrive in Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in the Japanese capital and raising hopes that the animals may help improve bilateral (双边的)ties.
Bi Li and his female partner, Xian Nu, both 5, were due to touch down at Narita international Airport in Tokyo on a flight from Shanghai.
Together with their keeper, the pair were transferred from Chengdu, to Shanghai on Monday morning, said Li Desheng, deputy chief of the Wolong Nature Reserve.
The pair, which are young adults, will be the first pandas at Ueno Zoo since April 2008, when the institution's beloved Ling Ling died.
Ueno Zoo had spent 90 million yen ($1.1 million) installing under-floor heating, a playground with a sandbox and landscaping.
The pair will dine on rare bamboo from the central Japanese mountain of Izu that is similar to what they are used to at home in China.
The zoo's first pair of pandas arrived in 1972, marking the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Expectations are running high that the pandas that will stay in Japan for 10 years will boost the local economy and improve troubled relations between Tokyo and Beijing.
Business and tourism officials expect them to bring in around 20 billion yen a year, or 10 percent of the local economy.
In 1993, a year after Ling Ling arrived in the zoo, an additional 1 million people visited the attraction. Visitors have fallen to around 3 million a year from 3.5 million since Ling Ling's death.
Since a boat collision near the Diaoyu Islands in September, Sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point. The media outlets expressed hope that bilateral relations will improve with the arrival of the pandas.
小题1:The passage mainly tells us .
A．a pair of pandas was lent to Japan by China
B．the pair of pandas from China brought hope of improving Sino-Japanese relations
C．the normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan
D．sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point since the Diaoyu Island incident小题2:en the pair of pandas arrives in Japan, .
A．an additional 1 million people will visit the zoo
B．they will eat what they are used to from China
C．they will stay there for 10 years
D．the
y will be the first pandas at Ueno Zoo小题3:According to the passage, we know that Ling Ling stayed in Japan for about .
A．5 years
B．10 years
C．15 years
D．20 years小题4:What does the underlined phrase "touch down" probably mean ?
A．take off
B．land
C．come up
D．meet小题5: The arriving of the pandas is expected to bring several positive effects except .
A．boosting the local economy
B．improving the troubled relations between China and Japan
C．bringing in around 20 billion yen a year
D．attracting 3.5 million visitors from China
