It was a perfectly executed sumerset – even better for the fact that this panda managed it in his sleep. The animal, called Tai Shan, was sitting in his zoo enclosure when he began to doze off, his eyes flickering open and shut before he succumbed to sleep and slumped forward.
The sleepy panda could have fallen flat on his face. But instead he popped his head between his legs and turned head-over-heels before landing on his back. If pandas can look surprised, then four-year-old Tai Shan certainly did at that moment.
Tourists at the National Zoo in Washington DC, who saw the four-and-a-half-year-old panda roll off the kerb only to recline in the grass, were delighted by his impromptu gymnastic skills. British tourist Mary Taylor, 36, said: “He kept closing his eyes to the point where he nodded off. ‘He then slumped forward and I thought he was going to land flat on his face. But he must of woken himself up at the last moment because he turned it into this perfect somersault.”
Tai Shan, whose name means Peaceful Mountain, was born in July 2005. He is the only panda born at the zoo that has survived.
Tai Shan is the only panda born at the zoo that has survived.
Daily Mail
Vocabulary:
somersault – bukfenc
head over heels – fejjel lefelé/ hanyatthomlok
executed – kivitelezett, végrehajtott
doze off – elbóbiskol
flickering open – alig nyitva (hunyorogva)
to succumb – enged, megadja magát
roll off – legurul
kerb – szegély(k?)
recline – kid?l, kifekszik
impromptu – rögtönzött
to nod off – elbóbiskol
to slump forward – el?rebukik
roly-poly – el?regurul
Other meanings of ‘ROLY-POLY’
Roly-poly may refer to:
a, Anything whose shape approximates a sphere
b, A forward roll
c, Roly-poly toy is a toy that rights itself when pushed over
d, Jam Roly-Poly, a traditional British pudding
e, Roly Poly is the name of a chain of sandwich shops in the United States
f, Rolie Polie Olie is a cartoon character created by William Joyce
g, “Roly Poly” is a song sung by Bob Wills
