Many music lovers have an opinion on what was the best year for music. Some people say it was 1824
Psychologists believe people tend to stick to the songs they
As COVID-19 continues to spread in China, watching a fitness livestreaming (网络直播) video,
Liu,
Experts voiced
China has the largest fitness market in the world. However, whether this trend has long-lasting power will depend on how money
3 . Adapted from Liang Xiaosheng’s award-winning novel, the realistic drama A Li felong Journey recently has been a huge hit on TV and online.
Given that A Lifelong Journey is set in the 1960s, it’s not surprising that the family has to deal with lots of social changes and uncertainties, like the restoration of Gaokao, the country’s reform and opening-up, the passion for private business and so on.
The five virtues in Confucianism—benevolence (仁), righteousness (义), courtesy(礼), wisdom and trust can be found in the lead character Zhou Bingkun, the youngest son in the family.
Following the lives of Zhou’s family, the drama gives viewers an insight into the lives of ordinary Chinese.
| A．No wonder viewers thought highly of this drama. |
| B．It is time to create such a drama to remember the bygone times. |
| C．China has witnessed dramatic changes over the past five decades. |
| D．And it explores themes of family, friendship and romance in a bittersweet story. |
| E．He was played by Lei Jiayin, who says he can almost “see his father” in the drama. |
| F．Disney has also announced it has acquired the drama series for an international release. |
| G．Most of the narrative took place in a shantytown (棚户区), where Zhou’s family lives. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Nowadays, many students are worshipping stars so blind that they don’t care about how the stars do. It is really a pity that some fans lose them in the process.
Here are some suggestions giving to the fans. Firstly, please worship stars sensibly. Never try to do some stupid and even crazy things for our stars. Next, be aware of a most important task of a student. Everyone is supposed to studying hard at present. Last but not least, why not to worship the stars around us? There are some super stars we can communicate in reality, such as our parent and the medical workers.
5 . The new TV series Joy of Life is a hit, scoring 8/10 among the most critical reviewers of Douban, a Chinese social networking service website. The series premiered(首映)on Tencent Video and iQiyi(online video platforms)on November 26,2019.
But how would you feel if Tencent Video and iQiyi allowed anyone to pay an extra fee to see a show’s upcoming episodes(集)ahead of schedule? The two of China’s biggest video streaming platforms decided to allow users to pay an extra fee on top of their subscription(订阅)to get advanced access to episodes of Qing Yu Nian(Joy of Life). Monthly subscriptions for Tencent Video cost 15 yuan(US$ 2.14)and iQiyi charges 19 yuan(US$ 2.71). Under the new policy, users could pay 50 yuan(US$ 7.14)to always stay six episodes ahead in Qing Yu Nian. Alternatively, watching a single episode in advance costs 3 yuan(US$ 0.43).
Users are mad about Tencent Video’s and iQiyi’s extra fees on top of subscriptions. On Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, tags related to the two platforms’ pricing policies repeatedly recurred on trending searches, where many people were found complaining about the platforms being greedy and called for the audience to boycott the policy.
The policy also drew criticism from People’s Daily. The state-owned newspaper said the platforms “have bad table manners” and “drain the pond to fish and burn the woods to hunt,” which are Chinese idioms used to describe someone focusing on quick profits as opposed to long-term interests. People’s Daily also said the sites look down upon on users’ rights. ” Two lawyers apparently agreed. The lawyers, who claim to be users of Tencent Video and iQiyi, started two separate cases, saying that they violated users’ rights.
But some experts don’t think the new pricing rules are unreasonable. Zhu Wei, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, argued in an article that charging outside subscriptions are value-added services and don’t violate the law. But Zhu added that the platforms are at fault for not properly informing users about the policy in advance.
In the face of extreme competition and perhaps an ambitious business model, China’s streaming giants are hoping that additional charges could turn their luck around. But judging by the pushback on social media, it may not be so easy. It’s hoped that the next stage of this streaming war is a little more friendly.
1. According to the new policy,how much will the subscribers pay in total if they want to watch six episodes on Tencent Video in advance?| A．50 yuan. | B．18 yuan. | C．65 yuan. | D．69 yuan. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Neutral. | C．Favorable. | D．Critical. |
| A．Appear. | B．Perform. | C．Attract. | D．Serve. |
| A．A well-received TV play. | B．An actor loved by the audience. |
| C．A debatable charging policy. | D．A TV play worthy of money. |
6 . China’s TikTok, which has taken the world by storm, is working its magic in its home nation, too.
The Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin, has amassed (累积) 400 million daily active users, parent company Byte Dance (字节跳动) revealed in its annual report this week. This is an impressive growth for the addictive video app, which had 250 million daily active users in January last year.
The report, which describes users’ behavior and trends, shows the cultural difference between China and the US, said Katherine Wu, an investor at New York-based firm Notation Capital.
Things that trend in these two countries are completely different. For example, knowledge-based content is extremely popular in China, but less so in the U.S. Also, those creators that did the most dance videos in China are users born in the 60s, while in the US, it seems that it’s mostly teenagers who are creating the dances.
Byte Dance claimed that Douyin has established itself as the largest knowledge, culture and art platform in China. 14.89 million “knowledge-based content videos” were shared on the app last year, it claimed. For example, one of the world’s most valued startups claimed that the number of users who posts videos about chemistry reached 130 million people last year. “On the art and culture front, videos related to those topics had 543.1 billion plays on Douyin last year.” it claimed.
Education has become a main use case for Byte Dance. TikTok, which is estimated to have earned more than $50 million last year, already counts educational content as one of the most consumed categories on its app across the world. The app launched an educational campaign in India last year, where it has amassed more than 200 million users.
1. The difference in trends between China and the US reflects the difference in ________.| A．culture | B．education |
| C．knowledge | D．hobby |
| A．Music videos | B．Knowledge-based videos |
| C．Humorous videos | D．Videos about chemistry |
| A．analyzing reasons | B．showing survey results |
| C．stating arguments | D．providing statistics and examples |
| A．To introduce the app --TikTok. |
| B．To help customers use TikTok. |
| C．To reveal the popularity of TikTok. |
| D．To recommend TikTok to customers. |
7 . 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. |
| A．some mouth-watering domestic cuisines |
| B．food-unrelated items |
| C．some rarely-known cuisines |
| D．the increasing sales of the pan at “Zhensanhuan” |
| 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. |
| 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 |
| A．Seeing movies. | B．Playing basketball. | C．Watching football matches. |
9 . Do you find yourself waiting for the next MrBeast video to drop so you can see his latest challenge? Or perhaps the newest experiment from Mark Rober? Maybe you’re wild about Harry Styles or Timothee Chalamet. You follow them on social media, connect with other fans online and maybe even message them now and again. Even though these people are celebrities, you feel like you know them.
Most of us form relationships of some sort with celebrities and fictional characters. We imagine having a conversation with that person or asking for advice. Sometimes we develop a more romantic crush. Embarrassing as it may sometimes feel, this is perfectly normal. Scientists call these faux friendships “parasocial relationships”. Social relationships involve two or more people. Parasocial ones, on the other hand, are completely one-sided.
Decades ago, parasocial relationships happened between TV viewers and the people on screen. This was especially true for talk-show hosts and newscasters who spoke directly to the camera. People watching felt as though these TV personalities were talking directly to them. Over time, they felt a close connection with them. It wasn’t just people on TV. Beatles fans went wild for the band, just as Harry Styles fans do today.
More recently, parasocial relationships have shifted to other types of screens. Many people, from children to adults, have some form of screen that they use for entertainment. Even young children form parasocial relationships with on-screen personalities. Big Bird and Elmo from Sesame Street can seem like friends. So can animated characters or superheroes.
“We root for them,” says Kristin Drogos. “We want them to do well.” Drogos is a communication researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It’s that positive feelings toward these on-screen personalities that cause us to form a parasocial bond with them. And that connection can be powerful.
1. What does the author intend to do in Paragraph 1?| A．To suggest several ways to kill time. |
| B．To reflect the diversity of people’s interests. |
| C．To show people’s attachment to famous people. |
| D．To confirm the benefits of watching celebrities. |
| A．Innocent. | B．Imaginary. | C．Fashionable. | D．Abnormal. |
| A．They can exist between human beings and non-humans. |
| B．People are more willing to become friends with talk-show hosts. |
| C．Superheroes are more popular among adults as on-screen friends. |
| D．Celebrities make the best of parasocial relationships to attract more fans. |
| A．How parasocial relationships benefit people. |
| B．What can influence a parasocial relationship. |
| C．How to communicate with on-screen friends. |
| D．What people share in parasocial relationships. |
10 . When A33, a theater in Beijing, hosted a new stand-up comedy show（脱口秀), to the surprise of the organizers, nearly 250 people turned up and laughed together. Six years ago, that would have been unbelievable. Indeed, there were even cases of shows having more performers than viewers.
Wan Da, one of the performers, said, “Many people are worried about the future of stand-up comedy, a genre (类型) that is very popular in the U.S. after its introduction in China. Can it adapt itself here? But as the results show, there is no need to worry. We have survived and carried on some of the best American traditions.”
Programs such as Rock& Roast, a comedy talk show competition, which are thought to help people reduce their pressure, drive audiences to offline performances for a real laugh. “Generally, our audiences are in the 20-35 age group, but recently some older people are reported to go to the theatre,” said Song Qiyu, a performer and founder of Beijing Comedy Center.
Compared to traditional Chinese comedy performances, the stand-up comedy has a lower bar as it doesn't require years of professional training. This allows everyone to take part. Work experience and personal observations of life are the sources of their inspiration. Different lives and jobs make the performances varied, giving them unique individual colors.
Joe Wong, a humorist from Jilin province, whose performance in Washington, D.C. in 2010 attracted much attention across China's social media, is happy to see the development of the industry in China. However, he has a warning, too: There is huge space for the genre in China, but we should be careful of growing too fast as the market still needs good works.
In China, many fresh college graduates join. Through their efforts, the industry will improve its standards and popularity as well as influence.
1. What can we learn about the stand-up comedy from Paragraph 2?| A．It develops well in China. | B．It is created by Americans. |
| C．It faces an uncertain future. | D．It is very popular in Beijing. |
| A．They have a gift for talking. | B．It needs plenty of performers. |
| C．It needs no special backgrounds. | D．Most people have a sense of humor. |
| A．Learning from America. | B．Offering quality content. |
| C．Keeping creating works. | D．Employing fresh graduates. |
| A．The stand-up comedy: a rising industry | B．A33: a quickly growing comedy theatre |
| C．Why does the stand-up comedy get popular? | D．How does the stand-up comedy survive in China? |
