The race to select the Beijing 2008 Olympic mascot is heating up and from all accounts, the panda is out in front. According to news reports, the Sichuan panda team is pulling out all the stops to get the giant panda chosen -- not surprisingly, as most of the pandas in China can be found in Sichuan. They have created 29 possible panda designs for consideration by the Beijing Olympic organising committee, which will be making the choice.

　　So what does an Olympic mascot represent to the world? The Sichuan team says that the giant panda represents the peace and harmony of the Olympic spirit, but is that what a panda really portrays? What, after all, does a giant panda do all day? It pulls down bamboo shoots and eats, and when it's not eating, it sleeps. That's it! That is all a panda does. One might say that the giant panda is fat and lazy! What if there is no bamboo? Does it find other food? No. When the panda's food disappears, the panda disappears. In fact, the giant panda is a very vulnerable animal and that is why today it is at risk of extinction. Do Chinese really want a fat, lazy animal for their Olympic mascot?

　　Fortunately there are other candidates for the honour of representing the Beijing Olympics, including the Chinese tiger. Now there's a contrast with the panda! The tiger is sleek; the tiger is swift. When the tiger springs into action, one can see its muscles ripple with energy. When a tiger is hunting for food, first it stalks its prey, perhaps a herd of wild swine. Then it chooses a victim and cleverly plans its strategy for the chase. Carefully choosing its moment, the tiger takes off with power and speed, as much as 80 km per hour. Does that not make the tiger a better choice to represent an Olympic competition, where the world's top athlets come together to see who is the strongest, the fastest and the best? The tiger is sleek, strong, swift and uses clever strategy to achieve its goal. Is it not the ideal animal to represent the athletes who have planned and carried out long-term strategies to qualify for the Olympics?

　　To be sure, the giant panda seems loveable whereas the tiger might be thought by some to be rather fierce. However, the tiger, like most predatory animals, is not truly vicious -- this is a common misperception. Under normal circumstances it kills only for food. When hungry it goes after its prey with fierce determination. Does it not take fierce determination for an athlete to win a medal in the Olympics?

　　Some years ago, Shell carried out a very successful ad campaign in Canada and the US. The ads showed a tiger getting into the gas tank of an auto; the accompanying slogan was "Put a tiger in your tank!" Everyone understood the message: the tiger meant extra power and speed for your car. The original Olympics in Greece brought together athletes in a fierce trial of power and speed. Nowadays China is amazing everyone with the power and speed of its economic development, far outstripping the other nations of the world. In the latest Olympics, the Chinese athletes surprised the world not only with the number of medals they won but also with the categories in which they won them. I would therefore argue that Beijing's 2008 Olympic mascot should be an animal that embodies the great qualities, power and speed, of the Chinese athletes and their homeland -- the Chinese tiger.

　　Recently it was brought to my attention that the 1988 Seoul Olympics had a tiger mascot. Does this make the tiger ineligible for use in the 2008 Beijing Olympics? In an informal poll of my friends and colleagues, I discovered that no one remembered the mascot of the 1988 games. In fact, they did not remember the mascot of the Sydney Olympics or even of this year's Athens Olympics. More important, the Chinese tiger has a long cultural history in China. One has only to review the Chinese art works of many centuries to see images of the tiger everywhere -- in carvings, ancient bronzes, ink brush paintings and even embroidery. Yes, the tiger has been revered and admired in China for thousands of years. With its natural characteristics of speed and power, the Chinese tiger would, I am convinced, be a superb mascot for the 2008 Olympics!(听英文51191,作者简介511912)

　　Penny Williams (加拿大)