In every photo from our family vacation to Washington, D.C., I was showing off the souvenir I picked out at the Smithsonian's National Zoo — a white, oversize, cotton sweatshirt with pandas (dance) on the front.
Nearly 30 years later I found myself among pool of photojournalists and video crews packed into the panda enclosure(围场), covering a small cub(幼兽) named Bei Bei for National Geographic.
After the photographs of Bei Bei (publish), my editor suggested I ask zoo administrators if I could return periodically (document) the first year of the cub's life. They said yes.
On that first day with Bei Bei, I felt a little thrill as a zoo staffer took me down a quiet path to the back of the panda enclosure the panda's keepers were waiting. They introduced (they), handed me shoe coverings and a mask, and led me through a series of gates and (eventual) to Bei Bei.
Soon I was making regular (stop) at the zoo to record the baby panda's transformation. My kids had never been (interested) in my job than when I was on the Bei Bei beat. When I mentioned the project friends and neighbors, they would light up in ways I'd never seen. It turned out that everyone loved pandas.
