2 . Chinese audiences seemed not to have been satisfied with the third season of the highly anticipated food documentary A Bite of China.

Even though the series has maintained high viewership ratings since its comeback last week, much higher than other programs aired at the same time, the ranking on Douban, a social networking website featuring films, literature and events, slipped to 4.2 out of 10, as of Tuesday, compared with 9.3 and 8.4, respectively, for the first two seasons.

Picky viewers complain that some of the narration is not accurate, while others pinpoint misleading content. At the same time, food blogger @barbara questioned whether it is appropriate to give a close-up shot of the poisonous plant Nandina(南天竺)in a food program.

A Bite of China, which debuted in 2012, became hugely popular nationwide for its quality introduction of some rarely-known and mouth-watering domestic cuisine. In the new show, however, watchers are not satisfied with “irrelevant” food references, such as lipsticks made of Chinese traditional medicine and martial arts master.

The first episode introduced a hand-made iron frying pan from east China’s Shandong province, which prompted thousands of Chinese Internet users to buy one from China’s leading e-commerce website Tmall in the next few days. Sales of the pan at “Zhensanhuan” surged 6,000 times compared with a year ago, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

In response to overwhelming criticism and questions, A Bite of China production crew responded on Weibo that they seek innovation despite the risks following the first two phenomenal seasons.

“It is unavoidable to make comparisons with the first two, and some audiences may not accept the changes,” the crew said. “We explore the culture and civilization behind food, and give food a historic touch. That’s why we feature culinary(烹饪的)tools, feast and rituals, as well as a healthy diet to show Chinese wisdom and philosophy, which has not been shown in any food programs before.”

1. Why does the passage mention Nandina?

A．Because some of the narration is not accurate.

B．Because it may be improper to give a close-up shot of a poisonous plant.

C．Because it is misleading content.

D．Because it is not attractive at all to most picky viewers.

2. Which of the following elements leads to viewers’ dissatisfaction with the new show?

A．some mouth-watering domestic cuisines

B．food-unrelated items

C．some rarely-known cuisines

D．the increasing sales of the pan at “Zhensanhuan”

3. According to its production crew, what is unique to ‘A Bite of China III’?

A．It makes comparisons with the first two episodes.

B．It tells the story of some martial arts related to food.

C．It receives overwhelming criticism and questions from audience.

D．It focuses on cooking tools, rituals and healthy eating.

4. What is the best the title for the passage?

A．'A Bite of China III' Draws Criticism from Audiences

B．'A Bite of China III' Maintains High Viewership Ratings

C．'A Bite of China III' Changes for the Worse

D．'A Bite of China III' Explains its Purposes

3 .     1    Fans used to be crazy about a specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption(消费) on the interest of celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces.    2    .

Celebrity clothing lines aren’t a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses.    3    The most successful start-ups have been those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.

    4    No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities, it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial(最初的) attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty(忠诚) returning to tried-and-true labels.

    5    The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity’s shelf life, and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears. Still, the ego’s(自我的) potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short time, but fashion-like celebrity-has always been temporary.

A．Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment

B．It is the celebrity effect, rather than the quality of the products that appeals to the consumers

C．Celebrity has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture

D．The public’s taste of fashion is not always constant and easy to predict

E．Today they’re started by first-class stars whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands

F．However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal

G．As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own