よこはま動物園ズーラシア、来園者3000万人を達成

Welcome to Japanese Daily News. I'm Maya. Today is September twenty-fourth. A big zoo in Yokohama has just welcomed its thirty-millionth visitor since it opened. Let's listen.

Now let's break it down, sentence by sentence.

The Zoorasia zoo in the city of Yokohama has now welcomed a total of thirty million visitors.

It means a zoo — a place where you can see many animals.

Thirty million is a very big number — about the same as one quarter of Japan's population.

It means population — the number of people living in a place.

Zoorasia opened in nineteen ninety-nine. Reaching thirty million visitors took about twenty-seven years.

It means to take — used for the time or money that something needs.

Zoorasia is one of the biggest zoos in Japan. You can watch animals in settings that recreate nature from around the world.

It means nature — mountains, forests, rivers, the natural world.

The most famous animal is the okapi. The okapi is a relative of the giraffe, and it has a striped pattern on its legs.

It means a member of the same group or family — here, the okapi belongs to the giraffe family.

The okapi is a very rare animal, known as the lady of the forest. Zoorasia was the first zoo in Japan to show one.

It means rare — something you do not see very often.

Let's listen to the whole story one more time.

Time for a short quiz. Listen and try to answer.

Thirty million people — about a quarter of Japan's population.

The okapi — a rare relative of the giraffe with striped legs.

In nineteen ninety-nine — about twenty-seven years ago.

That's all for today. Congratulations, Zoorasia — here's to the next thirty million visitors. See you next time.