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Questions 26-30

When you enter a Chinese Opera theater in Taipei, the first thing you will notice is a brilliant, lavishly embroidered hanging. Performers will then stride on stage to the sound of strings and woodwinds, or the clanging of gongs and drums.

First may be a handsome, sturdy young man in warrior garb, somersaulting across the stage and displaying his martial skills. Next may follow a young woman veiled by strings of pearls and dressed in silk brocade, singing in a gentle, feminine voice and performing a 'dance. Then there is the famous Monkey King Sun Wu-k'ung, of the opera Journey to the West, with his twitching, scratching, and mischievous simian antics. These characters are all representative of China's traditional National Opera, or Peking Opera.

Every week, Taiwan's three television stations air prerecorded or live Peking Opera performances, bringing high quality Chinese Opera into everybody's living room. One program teaches children to appreciate this traditional art through a lively presentation of the history, symbolism, and performance of Peking Opera. Most radio stations offer programs that feature the best of Peking Opera through records of outstanding past performances as well as live broadcasts. These efforts go a long way to keeping the art vital and popular.

So too has Chen Kaige's 2009 film Forever Enthralled / captivated, based on the life of famous Chinese opera performer Mei Lanfang. The main theme of the film, as the English title suggests, is the perennial power and relevance相關 of Beijing Opera as an art form. The film culminates with the first performance of Beijing Opera in New York in 1929; despite its totally foreign flavour, the performance is warmly received by the New York audience.

The film is also, however, a poignant reminder of the vulnerability of Beijing Opera in a crowded cultural marketplace. Indeed, the film reminds us, Beijing Opera has always fought for wider recognition and respect, and the rapid modernization of Taiwan and China in recent decades has created a preference, especially among the young, for the modern over the ancient, and for instant over delayed gratification. The long, slow beauty of Beijing Opera seems at odds with the pace and bustle of modern life. Yet perhaps, more optimistically, Beijing Opera as an art form has always been behind the times, an echo of an idealized past.

26.  What is this passage mainly about?

2. Chinese Opera in Taiwan.
4. The Actors in Peking

27.  Which character is NOT mentioned as representative of traditional Chinese opera?

1. The Monkey King
4. A fortune

28.According to the article, what are the key elements of traditional Chinese opera?

29.Chen Kaige's film Foreyer Enthralled is best described as belonging to which genre?

1. Biography
2. Documentary
3. Social history
4. Fantasy

30.Which of the following best describes the author's biggest fear about the future of ' Beijing Opera?

1. Young people these days probably don't have the patience to appreciate Beijing

Opera.

1. Nobody respects Beijing
2. The quality of Beijing