The long-awaited TV series     1     title is Blossoms Shanghai was released in two versions—Mandarin (普通话) and the Shanghai dialect—on Dec 27, quickly soaring as one of the most popular dramas during the New Year's period.

    2     (adapt) from writer Jin Yucheng's award-winning novel, Fan Hua (Blossoms),the series takes audience back to Shanghai in the early 1990s, following the rise of A Bao, a young man who is     3     (ambition) and seizes the opportunities of the early stock market and transforms into a self-made millionaire,     4     (expand) his business to foreign trade.

Amid his journey     5     success, the protagonist (主人公) has received help from multiple friends, including a former experienced businessman, a capable employee from a foreign trade company, and a restaurant operator. However, his relationship with these friends endures ah unexpected test due to a mysterious woman, and his own business also faces a crisis due to a powerful rival from Shenzhen.

Iconic Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai     6     (purchase) the adaptation copyright of the novel around a decade ago, and had spent three years in shooting the TV series, also Wong's first directorial television project, making it one of the most anticipated works for his fans.

In the midst of a rapidly developing era defined by economic growth, the protagonist A Bao, portrayed by actor Hu Ge, becomes a     7     (represent) of those constantly pursuing success and material wealth.

Wong said he was born in Shanghai but later moved with his parents to Hong Kong. “Over the past few decades, I have constantly been coming and going to Shanghai. My elder brother and elder sister have always been in Shanghai, and I have more than 20 cousins who are     8     (basic) from the same generation as the characters in Blossoms Shanghai. I am very curious about     9     they have experienced, so I have decided to adapt this novel,” he added. Speaking that the original novel consisting of     10     total of 3 chapters, Wong said it lacks a coherent (连贯的) storyline.

First impressions

As a huge art fan, I knew exactly what I was looking forward to most about my trip to Paris: visiting the Musée d’Orsay.     1     (house) in an old railway building, this world-famous art museum features some of the best-known paintings from the Impressionist movement of the 19th century.

As I wandered through the Impressionist gallery, I     2     (appreciate) masterpieces like The Ballet Class and The Card Players. Even though I had admired them hundreds of times on my computer screen, nothing could have prepared me for the wonder I felt when I finally laid eyes on     3     real thing. While it was hard     4     (pick) a favourite painting out of so many amazing works, the artists who made the deepest     5     (impress) on me were two of the greatest Impressionist painters, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

I could see from Monet’s works that he was     6     (great) inspired by nature. In the last three decades of his life he painted mostly scenes from his garden. One of these scenes     7     (show) in the famous piece Blue Water Lilies,     8     I studied for quite a while in the gallery. I couldn’t believe it when I heard he did around 250 paintings of the same water lily pond, all     9     different colors and styles. It is     10     (amaze) that every time Monet studied this simple scene, he brought the pond’s beauty to the canvas in a unique way.

Charlie Chaplin was born in a poor family of music hall performers in 1889.     1     astonished us was that Charlie     2    (teach) to sing as soon as he could speak and dance as soon as he could walk. Such training was common in acting families at that time,     3    (especial) when the family income was often uncertain. Unfortunately his father died, leaving the family even worse off. By his teens, Charlie had become one of the most popular child actors in England. No one was ever bored     4    (watch) him—his subtle acting made everything     5    (entertain). As time went by, he began making films. His film character, the little tramp, was a social     6    (fail) but was loved for his optimism and determination     7    (overcome) all difficulties.

Charlie wrote, directed and produced the films he     8    (star) in. In 1972 he was given     9     special Oscar for his outstanding work. He lived in England and the USA but spent his last years in Switzerland,     10     he was buried in 1977. He is loved and remembered as a great actor who could inspire people with great confidence.