Peking Opera is one of the forms of ancient Chinese culture. In Peking Opera, each character has their own face painted in a 1 way. The audience (观众) can know who the good guy is and who the bad guy is by 2 the face painting. Where did this kind of face painting come from? An old story tells us that it was related to Prince Lanling. This prince was one of the four most 3 men in ancient China. Some soldiers in the prince's army 4 that he was weak because of his good looking face. So, to make himself look 5 , the prince wore a mask with an ugly face painted on it. Another story about face painting has something to do 6 Li Longji, an emperor in the Tang Dynasty.He loved opera very much. One day, the actor who played the clown in Peking Opera fell ill right before a performance (玉) 7 others wouldn't be able to recognize him. Therefore, the 8 on the clown's face became a convention (惯例). Later, the actor who played the clown 9 the jade with white powder (粉末). As time went on, face painting started being used to show the characters of different roles. It has become one of many special 10 of expression of Peking Opera.
Friends with Kids was written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt. The movie is a comedy about a group of people at that moment in life when children arrive and everything changes. The last two singles in the group, Wesffeldt and Adam Scott, see the result that kids have brought to their friends' life and want to know if there's a better way. They make up their mind to make a test—to keep a kid alone and meet other people together.
The special "test" causes everyone to question the nature of friendship, family and true love. This movie helps you think more about the love for your parents, for your child and so on.
More about the movie:
Release (发行) Date: Feb. 20, 2015
Directed by: Jennifer Wesffeldt
Made by: Joshua Astrachan
Written by: Jennifer Westfeldt
A Discussion
Host: Hello! I'm Gavin from All Talk 970 FM. Welcome to our program. Today our topic is part-time jobs. Are they good for school children or not?
Headmaster: Certainly not. Children have got two full-time jobs already: growing-up and going to school. Part-time jobs make them so tired that they fall asleep in classes.
Mrs. Black: I agree. I know school hours are short, and there's a lot of homework to do, too. Children need enough sleep.
Mr. Black: Young children perhaps, except some boys, stay at school until they're eighteen or nineteen. A part-time job can't harm them. In fact , it's good for them. They can earn pocket-money by themselves. And they can see something of the world outside school.
Businessman: You're quite right. Boys learn a lot from a part-time job. And we shouldn't forget that some families need the extra money. If the students don't take part-time jobs, they can't stay at school.
Host: Well, we have got two for , and two against. What do our listeners think of it?
The following are today's TV programs.
Channel 2 | Channel 3 | Channel 10 |
7:30 Morning News 8:00 Lucky Top Show 9:00 Sports Time: Football Match 10:50 The Magic Show | 7:15 Let's Speak English 8:20 Famous I lives This Week: Bill Gates 9:50 Animal World 11:00 The Quiz Program 14:30 Sports on Channel 3: Basketball Match 16:00 Music for Children 17:00 Who Is This Week's Mystery Guest? | 13:00 Pop Music Show: Madonna 14:10 Travel to Australia 15:00 Cartoon World: The Lion King Ⅱ 17:30 Happy English: Learn New English Songs 20:00 The News |
Have you seen Avatar（《阿凡达》）? It's a popular 3D movie, and you may have to wear 3D glasses to see it. The 3D glasses make the images（图像）from the movie look as if they were coming straight towards you.
More and more 3D movies are coming to theaters. Some say that 3D TV sets will come into our homes in the near future. 3D technology can make TV and movies more exciting. However, people with eye problems may get headaches if they spend too much time watching 3D movies. Why?
When we look at an object（物体）, each eye sees it at a different angle（角度）. Our eyes send the two images to our brain（大脑）, and the brain puts them together. 3D technology uses two film projectors（投影机）. One projects a left-eye-image and the other projects a right-eye-image. 3D glasses allow us to see a different image in each eye. So, when we are watching a 3D movie, our brain can't put together the images sent to our eyes. The brain needs to work harder at "reading" the images. That makes it easier for people with eye problems to get dizzy（头晕的）or have headaches. A famous eye doctor said if your eyes can't focus（聚焦）on the same object at once, you will have trouble watching 3D movies.
A: Hello, Mary! Could I ask you some questions?
B: Certainly. Go ahead! I'm glad to answer your questions.
A:
B: It is hard to say. But Zhang Ziyi and Jackie Chan are my favorites because of their excellent acting skills and special personalities (性格).
A:
B: I like the movies that can make me laugh best. Now you can guess what such movies are called.
A:
B: Yes, and my favorite movie is Lost in Thailand which was first shown in China at the end of 2012.
A: I also have seen that movie. I prefer movies that are scary. Don't you think those are very exciting?
B: Completely not! It'll be so terrible!
A: It seems that we have different interests in movies.
B: I'm afraid so.
A．And what kind of movies do you like best? B．But I don't mind such kind of movies. C．If I see such movies, I'll have bad dreams at night. D．But I don't like comedies very much. E．I think the answer is "comedies", right? F．Who is your favorite movie star? |
In Australia, different people have different ways to have fun. They also have their own ideas about how to pass time.
Most children, about 80%, work hard in school because they have to take lots of exams. After school, they don't want to stay at home reading books any more. Instead, they go out to play.
Some old people get up early in the morning. Then they go to the park to read newspapers. It helps them know what is happening around the world. In the evening, they would like to watch TV at home.
Young people enjoy having relaxing trips on weekends. They go to mountains to have a picnic or go to the forest to camp. They usually start on Friday and spend one or two days outside. On Sunday evening, they start their way back home. Nobody seems to be in a hurry, although a busy week is waiting for them again.
Australians' Ways to Have Fun
Who | Where or when | Ways to have fun |
80% of | In school | Work hard because of lots of exams |
After school | Go out | |
Some old people | In the morning | ◆Get up early ◆Go to the park to read newspapers |
Watch TV at home | ||
Young people | On weekends | Have trips: ◆Go to mountains to have a picnic ◆Go to the forest to camp |
On Sunday evening | back home |
How long are you allowed to watch TV every day at home? One hour? Two hours? Or never? Do you think it's fair? Well, you may think you should (allow) to watch TV as much as you like. However, in an island country called Iceland, there used to be day when people were not allowed to watch TV at all. Let's learn more about it.
1987, there was no TV broadcast in Iceland on Thursday. This may sound awful, it's true. Thursdays were traditionally a day to communicate with family and friends in the country. It's believed that the reason for (have) such a rule is that the government doesn't want to have a nation filled TV-addicted (沉迷电视的) people. In 1966, (something) was shown on the country's only state-run television station on Thursdays. The idea behind the (decide) was to make Thursdays a day for socializing (社交).
Later, it was decided that nothing would be shown on TV during the whole month of July. As July was considered as a vacation month, it was also expected that the local people could keep (they)away from TV and spend their days outdoors. (luck), the Thursday ban (禁令) ended in 1983 while the July ban lasted until 1987.
