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On ‘Sesame Street,’ Elmo Gets a Dog

The children's television series Sesame Street is welcoming a new lovable character for its 52nd season.

The new character is a white-and-brown puppy. The young dog is named Tango. She gets adopted by the young red Muppet, Elmo.

Kay Wilson Stallings is an executive vice¹ president at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street. She said the show's creators "wanted to explore that special bond between children and pets by introducing this new character."

Tango will join Sesame Street's 52nd season as both an animated² character and a live-action Muppet. The new season will air this autumn on HBO Max and on PBS KIDS next year.

Tango will be introduced in a 30-minute animated special called Furry³ Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy. The televised special will air on the HBO Max channel in the United States on August 5.

Tango is Elmo's second pet. He has been caring for a fish named Dorothy for several years.

"He's done quite well taking care of his goldfish," Wilson Stallings said of Elmo. "We thought he's been successful with taking care of Dorothy and that this could be the next step in his development..."

The show's writers had plans to introduce a pet on Sesame Street even before the COVID-19 pandemic began. During the pandemic, animal adoptions⁴ have risen sharply in the United States. Now, Sesame Workshop hopes Tango can help show children of different ages how to help with the care and feeding of new family pets.

"The timing⁵ of it is perfect," said Wilson Stallings.

Details about Tango have been carefully considered. The show's producers talked at length about what the dog should look like.

They decided⁶ to make Tango a female mixed breed dog. "She could be a little of anything. Anybody that has a pet might see a little of their pet within Tango," Wilson Stallings said.

Tango will remain a puppy — just like Elmo stays 3-and-a-half years old.

Wilson Stallings said, "Right now we're just really focusing on that relationship between she and Elmo as she gets to become more familiar with all the rest of the characters on Sesame Street."

Sesame Street co-productions have aired in over 70 languages in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Words in This Story

character - n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show

adopt - v. to take a child of other parents legally as your own child (can also be used for animals whose previous owners abandoned or released them to a rescue organization)

bond - n. something (such as an idea, interest, experience, or feeling) that is shared between people or groups and forms a connection between them

pet - n. an animal (such as a dog, cat, bird, or fish) that people keep mainly for pleasure

animated - adj. produced by the creation of a series of drawings, pictures, etc., that are shown quickly one after another : produced through the process of animation⁷

breed - n. to keep and take care of animals or plants in order to produce more animals or plants of a particular kind

focus - v. to cause (something, such as attention) to be directed at something specific

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

3 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

4 adoptions   

n.采用，收养( adoption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Adoption agencies are always so open to alternative family adoptions. 领养中介机构永远都对领养家庭敞开。 来自电影对白
• The number of adoptions has grown in the past year. 去年，收养子女的数字增加了。 来自互联网

5 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。