HONG KONG film     1     (direct) Wong Karwai’s first television series, Blossoms Shanghai (《繁花》), made     2     (it) first appearance at the end of December. The drama helped readers understand the culture of Shanghai better. The drama was     3     (base) on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Jin Yucheng in Shanghainese.

Set in Shanghai during the 1990s, a young man called A Bao (played by Hu Ge) who rises from small beginnings to become     4     successful businessman in ten years. Along the way, he receives help from     5     (support) such as Ling Zi, Miss Wang and Uncle Ye. The major roles were     6     (main) born and raised in Shanghai and a great deal of the dialogue was in Shanghainese. Even Wong himself spoke Shanghainese while working on set.

In the series, different kinds of objects from old newspapers     7     sewing machines, and     8     a car, were from the 1990s. Those objects had interesting stories behind them, which     9     (remind) the Shanghai citizens of the past days. Besides, the main setting of the story, “Huanghe Road”, was rebuilt at a 1:1 scale at Shanghai Film Park in Songjiang.

The drama took six years to complete. In order to get the     10     (good) shot, Wong often required actors to perform a scene upwards of ten times.

3 . On Feb. 15, a new video model called Sora promises to create a video up to a minute long from a short text description. Just tell Sora your idea, and watch it make a video right before your eyes. Sora is described as “eye-popping”, “world-changing”, and “breathtaking, yet scaring.”

The videos from OpenAI’s Sora are full of details. One video of a Tokyo street scene shows that Sora has learned how objects fit together in 3-D: the camera goes into the scene to follow a couple as they walk past a row of shops. Sora knows how things should look in real life.

Sora looks at many videos and learns from them by breaking them into very small bits. It uses these bits to make a new video. The new video is grey at first and very messy. Then, Sora fixes the video until it looks good and smooth. Sora also gets help from ChatGPT, which turns the user’s short sentences into clear instructions. This helps Sora make the video just as you asked.

Sora may find “busy” pictures hard to understand. For example, when a person moves, things around them change. In one video created by Sora, a grandma blows the candle on a birthday cake, but the flame (火焰) doesn’t move. Sora may not be able to tell “left” from “right”.

OpenAI also says that Sora deals with occlusion well. But one problem is that they fail to follow objects when they are out of sight. For example, if a truck passes in front of a street sign, the sign might not reappear afterward.

In a video of a papercraft underwater scene, Sora has added what looks like cuts between different pieces of footage (镜头), and the model has kept the same style between them. But it’s not perfect. In the Tokyo video, cars to the left look smaller than the people walking beside them. They also pop (突然出现) in and out between the trees. “There’s some work to be done,” says Brooks. “For example, if someone goes out of view for a long time, they won’t come back.”

“Sora seems like a very important leap forward,” says Sam Gregory, a human rights organization that specializes in the use and misuse of video technology. “But there are two sides of the coin,” he says. “The meaningful abilities help many more people to be storytellers using video. And there are also possibilities for misuse.”

OpenAI has also realized the risks that come with a video model. The OpenAI team plans to draw on the safety testing. “We’ll need to get more feedback (反馈) and learn more about the types of risks that need to be solved with video before it would make sense for us to put Sora into use,” says Ramesh.

5 . Hilary Smith belonged to a good family. But by the age of twenty, he had spent all the money the good old family had. He then had some trouble with the bank and was put in prison. He escaped from the prison and ran to Australia at once.

Hilary did not like Australia, and Australia did not like Hilary. What he could do seemed to be one of two things: die or work. Then he remembered that he was not alone in the world. He had an aunt.

She was his father’s only sister, but his father used to say she brought no glory (荣耀) to the family. Hilary, of course, tried to discover what she had done. It seemed that she had failed to marry a nobleman. Instead, she had chosen a husband who was connected with “trade”. Of course, as soon as she became “Mrs. Parks”, her brother considered her dead. Later on, Mr. Parks died and left her a lot of money. But that did not bring her back to life in her brother’s opinion.

Hilary discovered his aunt’s address. Luckily she remained faithful and loyal to him even after she fell ill. So Hilary’s star shone again, and soon he moved into her house and lived as comfortably as a sailor who had just reached harbor. He had only about a six-pence in his pocket.

One thing was soon clear: his aunt was seriously ill, and nothing could cure her illness. Hilary was very worried. Fate had found a home for him, and was now going to throw him out of it. There was only one thing that could save him: her will (遗嘱).

“Will? ”she said, “yes, I have made one. That was when I was a girl and had not much money. I left all my money to some religious people. ”

“Didn’t you make another will when you were married? ”Hilary asked.

His aunt shook her head. “No, ” she said in a low voice. “There was no need. When I finally had a lot of money I found I had no relations. ”

On the next day he went to the public library and examined a book of law. It told him what he already believed. When a woman is married, an earlier will loses its value. A new will must be made. If no new will is made, the money goes to the nearest relation. Hilary knew that he was his aunt’s only relation. His future was bright.

After a few months had passed, Hilary’s problems became serious. He badly needed money. He had expensive tastes, and owed a lot of money to shopkeepers. They believed in him because his aunt was rich, but the debt was terrible.

Unluckily his aunt did not want to discuss money matters at all. In the end they had a quarrel about the small amount of ten pounds. Hilary was not very angry. He began to wonder about a new problem. Was it kind to want his aunt to live any longer? Was it not better for her to die now? While he was considering what to do, his aunt told him that she was going to send for her lawyer. So she was going to make a new will, Hilary thought. She might leave all her money to someone else. Soon he reached a clear decision. He must do a great kindness to the poor old woman.

One night when the old servant who had been nursing his aunt went off, he doubled the amount of some medicine. The total amount was too great and it could just put her to sleep forever.

“Thank you, ”his aunt took the glass from his hand with a grateful look. “I want, more than anything, to sleep, and never to wake up again. Is that what you wish, Hilary? Don’t blame (责怪) me if I have some doubts about what you intended to do. Sick people get these ideas, you know. One thing I ought to explain to you. Mr. Parks never married me. He already had a wife and couldn’t marry again. That made your foolish father very angry with me…Well, if I am alive tomorrow I shall make another will in your favor (赞成). If I die tonight, you’ll get nothing…. No, Hilary, don’t try to take the glass away. If you do that, I shall know, and I don’t want to know. Goodnight, Hilary. ”

Then, very carefully, she raised the glass to her mouth and drank.

10 . In Tennessee, you will find a “small society” of 9 women who call themselves “The 9 Nanas.” The task of this group is _______ —to spread happiness to those in need. The work that 9 women do has been a _______ for over 30 years. Even their husbands had no idea what the ladies were busy with!

The 9 women _______ themselves sisters, and have been together since childhood. Several of them were raise by MaMaw and PaPaw, a couple that were always doing good for the _______.

One day when the ladies got together for a card game, they started missing about the “old days” with Malaw and PaPaw. They remembered how MaMaw made and sent cakes to families who _______ lost someone. She didn’t have to know them. If Malaw read about a death in the newspaper, she would at once go to the kitchen.

So the sisters _______ that they should start doing good for their community too. They knew they needed money. And that’s when they planned to wash their own clothes instead of paying for that in order to save the money for the good things.

“So among the nine of us, we saved about $400 a month and our husbands didn’t _______ anything unusual. Their shirts looked just fine,” said one of the sisters.

And so, the “small society” of the 9 Nanas was born. _______ they heard of someone in need, they’d try their best to help paying a bill for a woman who lost her husband or buying new clothes for the children of a _______ mom. A package (包裹) would be sent, and would include one of MaMaw’s cakes and a note that _______ “Somebody loves you.” These 9 women prove that a small plan can make a big difference.