Constantly for three days since the start of 2024, Johnny Keep Walking!, a comedy,     1     (gain) the top position on the country’s box-office charts, resonating (共鸣) with a wide young viewership due to its touching     2     (expose) of workplace problems.

    3     (mark) as the third movie of filmmaker Dong Ruinian, who is also a renowned scriptwriter, the film fictionalizes the story of a factory worker who is     4     (mistaken) transferred to the commercial group’s headquarters. The human resource manager, Ma Jie, is another main character who was caught up     5     the “wrong adjustment” incident. Despite the human resource manager’s desperate attempts     6     (hide) his error, the worker surprisingly receives a series of promotions and unexpectedly disclose a corruption (贪污) case     7     (involve) a high-ranking manager.

Dong reveals that he thought up the script around five years ago and conducted extensive research on some Internet companies,     8     he discovered “absurd and ridiculous things”, giving him lots of inspiration.

With the story resonating with many young professionals due to its themes addressing    9     (variety) office problems such as complex interpersonal relationship, excessive overtime, and executive conflicts, the film has received a rating of 8.1 points out of 10 on Douban,     10     of the country’s most popular review sites.

Recently, a video series named Escape from the British Museum, produced by two Chinese vloggers     1    (draw) widespread attention. This video series narrates the tale of a precious artifact (手工艺品) from the British Museum escaping from the museum     2    beginning a journey to rediscover its rightful   “home”. It is     3     unique jade teapot that is decorated with a Mughal-style pattern of lotus flowers and entangled branches of Mednilla Magnifica.   

The jade teapot is indeed an authentic artifact     4    (house) in the British Museum. Originating from China, it found its place in the British Museum in 2017. Contemporary craftsmanship is exactly     5     sets it apart from other ancient Chinese artifacts that found their way beyond China’s borders. The jade teapot has a vibrant green color that is    6    (incredible) made with cutting edge techniques to shape the body excessively thin,   resulting     7     a thickness of merely 1mm.

The video series Escape from The British Museum is a collaborative     8    (create) between two social media influencers, “Jianbing Guozi” and   “Xiatian Meimei”. This attractive story     9    (employ) personification techniques and it gives life and voice to the artifact.

Currently, three episodes of this series have been released, gaining tens of millions of    10    (like) and over a million comments from viewers.

In a specially designed studio theater in Hangzhou, New Dragon Gate Inn, a traditional Shaoxing Opera performance    1    (bring) to life. Recreated from the 1992 film of the same name, the opera presentation shows amazing artistic performance, successfully attracting the interest of younger    2    (generation) by mixing traditional Chinese opera with modern theater models and dramatic (戏剧性的) ideas.

    3    (compare) with traditional stages, the theater is designed as an inn,     4     the audiences becoming guests. The audience sits very close to the actors and actresses, offering them     5    unique and fascinating viewing experience. Upon leaving the theater, these audience members feel a sense of satisfaction that drives them to willingly share short clips of the performance online,     6    (promote) its popularity.

As the play gains popularity in the past weeks, Chen Lijun,     7    plays the important supporting role of Jia Ting,     8    (become) a social media hit. She said this show represents one of the     9    (challenge) skills in the opera world. It tests not only the physical strengths, vocal skills, and acting abilities of actors and actresses    10    their willpower and determination.

One of the     1     (old) traditional opera forms still     2     (perform) in China, Kunqu Opera was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. It     3     (list) as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) by UNESCO in 2001.

Combining songs, graceful body movements, martial arts and dance, Kunqu uses a seemingly endless     4     (various) of gestures to express emotions. Like many traditional Chinese art forms, Kunqu has been faced     5     competition from mass culture and a lack of interest among young people. But the recognition by UNESCO made it possible for Kunqu Opera     6     (experience) a revival. Some artists noted that Kunqu Opera pieces are     7     (close) linked with Chinese literature and the best-known one is The Peony Ravilion (牡丹亭),     8     was written by Ming Dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu.

When     9     “youth version” (青春版) of The Peony Pavilion was put on at universities across China, it gained great popularity among young people. One of the actresses received a note from an audience member after the show,     10     (tell) her how beautiful she was onstage and how beautiful Kunqu was.

French disaster epic Notre-Dame on Fire hits Chinese big screen

This April marks the     1     (four) anniversary of Notre-Dame in Paris being engulfed by the biggest blaze in its history.

NotreDame on Fire, now in Chinese cinemas, is a disaster epic     2     veteran French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also helmed Wolf Totem(2015), a drama film     3     (adapt) from Chinese writer Jiang Rong’s eponymous novel. The film made its China premiere on April 6 in Beijing in the presence of France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak and the director.

Presenting a blow-by-blow recreation of the gripping events that     4     (happen) on April 15, 2019 when the fire at the French medieval catholic cathedral rocked France and shocked the whole world, Annaud’s new film hails the heroic people who put their lives on     5     line to accomplish the awe-inspiring rescue. Annaud unveiled the filming details of the film to the audience     6     (attend) the China premiere.

“It was a     7     (danger) movie. The actors were actually very close to the extremely violent fire, 1,200-degree Fahrenheit fire. There are very few digital special effects. Almost all of what you have seen are     8     (identical) reconstructed sets that I set on fire,” he said.

“When I saw this movie in Paris last year, it took me a few hours     9     I could breathe and walk normally on the street,” said Malak at the film’s China premiere.

The French minister announced that 2024 will be the France-China Year of Culture and Tourism and she invited Chinese tourists to travel to France for the occasion, especially to see the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris,     10     , after almost six years of extensive renovations, is scheduled to reopen to the public in December of the same year.

Like Peking Opera and other traditional national arts in China, Piyingxi or the shadow play show,     1    (know)as a Chinese     2    (culture)heritage, has spread to many countries. Vivid design and a rich variety of     3    (color), beautiful costumes, change of lighting, and unique singing, together make up the fascinating world of a shadow play.

As     4     old form of storytelling and entertainment, shadow play artists use plain figures in front of a bright cloth     5    (create)the illusion of moving images. The figures are usually moved     6     people behind a thin screen. Shadow play is not     7    (entire)a show of shadows, but rather a show of silhouettes(剪影).

That day I     8    (watch)a shadow play show at the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and was fascinated by the wonderful     9    (perform). Most young people have little understanding of     10     a shadow play is, despite its 2000-year-old history. It is a pity that nowadays young people don't know how to appreciate this traditional an. Shadow play is our precious folk art, and let's preserve it.