英语幽默阅读经典材料！

这个网址好象连不上。

不是联接不上，是管理员还没有通过严正！需要的话邮箱联系！

Li Yuchun, a music student whose tomboy looks and confidence onstage are the talk of Chinese chat rooms, won with 3.5 million votes. The three finalists, all in their early 20s, became instant celebrities in a nation that really hasn't made much room for the pop-star concept, except when they come from Hong Kong or Taiwan.
"Super Girl" owes its popularity to its authenticity, to indirectly giving voice to individual Chinese through a vote, and to its unscripted creation of a happy feeling, said a dozen young Chinese interviewed in Beijing Friday.
The program did not, for example, emerge from the Beijing studios of official Chinese programming, but from a provincial station in the gritty heartland of Hunan that has a satellite uplink.
The contest is officially the "Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Super Girl Contest." Any female, young or old, talented or not, can participate — not just the beauty-queen types from central casting.
Some 120,000 girls and women took part in the past year, in a sudden and unexpected burst of enthusiasm that has Beijing authorities slightly worried about the precedent it may set for more unregulated forms of pop culture.
"This is totally new to Chinese people," says Wei Feng, a student from the Beijing Foreign Language Institute. "The whole thing is about singing whatever you want, and millions of young girls in those provinces have never had that chance before."
In fact, the two top scorers Friday were "girl next door" types, with the more feminine Zhang Liangying, who sang, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," coming in a distant third.
Super Girl Li has a small army of young supporters who see her as a role model.
"[Super Girl] represents a victory of the grass-roots over the elite culture," argues Beijing sociologist Li Yinhe.
"It is vulgar and manipulative," intoned an official statement from China Central TV (CCTV), the national state-run broadcaster, which added that the program was not high-toned enough, due to the gaudy clothing worn by contestants, and that the show could be canceled next season due to its "worldliness."
Technically, CCTV officials can shut down "Super Girl," since they hold a monopoly position on broadcast decisions. Many ordinary Chinese say it won't be worldliness that prompts any shutdown, but the fact that CCTV's advertising revenue Friday night was lower than that of its modest Hunan competitor.
A pilot of an official version of "Super Girl" produced by CCTV reportedly failed.
"Most Chinese TV is formulaic," says Luo, a young Beijing University graduate, who would only give his first name. "We can figure out after 15 minutes what will happen, but on "Super Girl" we can't predict what they will say."

China swoons over `Super Girl' idols
AP, BEIJING Sunday, Aug 28, 2005, Page 5
The finale of an American Idol-type pop star contest in China has broken TV ratings records, eclipsing the perennially top-rated Lunar New Year Festival gala for viewers, state media reported yesterday.
Millions of people tuned in to Hunan Satellite Television for the live three-hour finale of Super Girls on Friday night, the China Daily said. The episode attracted more viewers than the hugely popular Spring Festival gala shown every year on China Central Television, though the paper gave no figures. It was the first time a local TV channel has outrated the gala, it said. The broadcaster is headquartered in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province.
Aspiring pop starlet Li Yuchun, 21, was named champion of the "Super Girls 2005" contest after garnering 3.5 million votes from fans all over China, according to the Beijing Youth Daily. Votes were accepted by mobile- phone text message and each phone number was allowed 15 votes.
"It's like a gigantic game that has swept so many people into a euphoria of voting and selecting, which is a testament of a society opening up," the China Daily quoted cultural critic Zhu Dake (朱大可) as saying.
But there was grumbling over the show's methods and its result. "How come an imitation of a democratic system ends up selecting the singer who has the least ability to carry a tune?" the China Daily asked. The daily said the lanky, shaggy-haired winner from Sichuan Province might have dominated the contest because of her "transgender appeal," which helped her win votes from both men and women.
Li just topped 20-year-old Zhou Bichang, who got 3.2 million votes, the Beijing Youth Daily said. For weeks fans have been turning up at malls around the country shouting and carrying posters of their favorite contestants in a bid to rally votes in their favor.
On Friday the streets in Changsha were swamped with thousands of fans doing last-minute campaigning, with some supporters promising free pop-star photos to people who voted on the spot, the Beijing Daily Messenger said.
Enthusiasm for such shows can sometimes get out of hand. Security guards were called in last week at two local malls after Super Girls fans became unruly while lobbying shoppers to vote for their star, the Shanghai Daily reported. "Super Girls fans give guards fits," the headline read.

China under spell of mighty 'Super Girl'
By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY
CHANGSHA, China — The name may not roll off the tongue quite like American Idol does, but that hasn't kept the Mongolian Cow Sour Sour Yogurt Super Girl contest from sweeping China.
Last week, the spotlight fell on the regional finals in Changsha, a polluted industrial backwater known for its spicy food and its links to Mao Zedong, who graduated from a teachers college here in 1918.
The three-hour program, televised live, featured five finalists: a moody, Avril Lavigne-type rocker; a prepubescent baby doll; an energetic schoolgirl; a glamour queen in evening wear; and a rough-and-ready tomboy.
Almost 1,000 people crammed into a firetrap of a studio surrounding a postage stamp-sized stage. Silhouettes of dancers appeared on enormous screens behind the singers, along with a wall of monitors showing commercials for products such as Johnson's baby wipes.
Throughout the night, there were plenty of similarities to American Idol. Contestants crooned syrupy songs like Pengyou ("Friend"), shed tears, offered heartfelt thanks and catapulted through numerous costume changes.
Though other amateur talent programs have aired on local television stations, Super Girl is China's first nationally televised show of its kind, according to Liao Ke, its co-creator and a program designer for state-owned Hunan province satellite television.
Unprecedented popularity
In a country where televised fare still features military officers belting out patriotic anthems, viewers have found Super Girl irresistible. "This is the most popular entertainment program we've ever done," Liao says.
Ultimately, Super Girl will pit winners from each of five cities in a national final in the fall. When the program started a few months ago, more than 100,000 would-be singers ranging in age from 4 to 89 applied, Liao says.
To reach the Chengdu auditions, one teenager endured a 15-hour train trip from her home in western China, according to weekly magazine Liaowang Dongfan Zhoukan. It reported that a woman from Fujian province traveled to each city in sequence, losing in the first round every time. She spent more than three months' wages before finally abandoning her quest for fame.
Through May 6, an estimated 30% of all television sets in the country — or 210 million viewers — had tuned in to an episode, The show drew its largest audience to date during the regional finale in the southern city of Guangzhou; more than 22 million watched. (Super Girl can be seen in the USA on the Dish Network satellite television system.)
China has a reputation for copying everything from North Face jackets to the latest Hollywood DVDs. But Liao says he was only dimly aware of American Idol's British predecessor, Pop Idol, when he developed Super Girl.
He says the program grew out of China's rising standard of living, which has spawned more "colorful" entertainment options than in the days when art and entertainment were required to serve the country's Communist revolution. "Everybody wants to express themselves, and Hunan TV just became the platform," he says. "It's like our logo says: 'If you want to sing, sing.' "
It's not just self-expression that motivates contestants. Last year's winner took homemore than $6,000 — big money in a country with an average annual income of $1,100. Unlike the American Idol winner, the Chinese champion isn't guaranteed a recording contract. But she can go on to professional success. Zhang Hanyun, 16, who finished third in last year's national showdown, is now a household name. She appears in print and TV ads for Mongolian Cow drinkable yogurt, one of China's best-known brands. She expects to release an album in July. There's also talk of a television series in which she'll appear as herself.

"I feel really lucky," she says.
This is a China far removed from the political ferment that led to the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Today, China is relentlessly commercial, individualistic and apolitical.
"If such a program happened five or 10 years ago, I don't think it would have been so influential. I don't think the ordinary people would have opened themselves up to participate," says An Youqi, 21, last year's Changsha winner. "People were pretty shy and pretty conservative."
Election night in China
Super Girl is surprisingly participatory. This remains a country where people can't elect their leaders. But they can vote for their favorite singers.
Like American Idol, the program features a panel of judges drawn from the entertainment industry. In Changsha, the four arbiters were an agent, a composer, a TV producer and a folk singer. (To date, there have been no Paula Abdul-type scandals.)
But the expert judges' influence is dwarfed by that of 31 other judges drawn from the ranks of laobaixing, or common people. During a series of dizzyingly complex showdowns that eliminated two of the five contestants, the amateur judges cast their votes by walking across the stage to single out their favorites as the studio band banged out up-tempo rock.
The final round — between Zhao Jingyi (the schoolgirl), She Manni (the glamour queen), and Huang Yali (the tomboy) — was decided by more than 271,000 viewer votes cast that evening through text messaging. After the totals were revealed one digit at a time by each singer's friends and parents, Zhao, 17, emerged victorious in a shower of confetti and sparklers.
"Ever since I was a little girl, I had this dream to stand on stage and sing," she said, clutching a bouquet in the dressing room after the show. "I realized my dream tonight."
LI Yuchun: Time Magazine Hero
BEIJING, Oct. 7 -- "SUPER Girl" winner Li Yuchun, with her tomboy-style hair and a shy smile appears on the cover of the latest edition of Time Asia Magazine, issued on Monday, as one of the 25 Asia’s Heroes of 2005.
Six people from China were on the Asia Hero list, including actress Zhang Jingchu who played the heroine in the Silver Bear Award winning movie "Peacock" at this year's Berlin Film Festival and Taiwan dance artist Lin Hwai-min who founded the Cloud Gate Dance Theater.
The other Asia Heroes are from Japan, India, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea, including volunteers who helped search for missing people in last year's havoc caused by tsunami.
Time said the 21-year-old Li, a pop singing major at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, has become a new pop icon for her boyish charm and unconventional personality. Li polled more than 3.5 million votes via cell phone text messages at the finals of "Super Girl," the Chinese version of "American Idol." The gala finale attracted about 400 million viewers, nearly one-third of China's population.
According to the magazine, the influence brought by the "Li Yuchun phenomenon" goes far beyond her voice in China. Her "attitude, originality and a proud androgyny" are challenging the country's traditional customs.
Time said actress Zhang, "with her taste for traditionally inspired dress and her reverence for ancient Chinese aphorisms," may be a perfect ambassador for China. Described by Time as "Asia's synthesizing dance genius," dancer Lin's outdoor performance in Taipei could attract an audience of more than 60,000.
It is the fourth consecutive year the magazine has elected Asia Heroes. The listed heroes are considered brave, courageous, persistent and can encourage locals. Last year, Athens Olympics champion Liu Xiang and prima ballerina Tan Yuanyuan from China were on the list.
(Source: Beijing Time)

Super Girls: a Double-edged Sword for Chinese
Though the curtain has fell on the 2005 "Super Girls" contest hosted by Hunan Satellite Television, a provincial television station known for its brand-new entertaining content one after another, a nationwide craze for "Super Girl" has not cooled down.
People all over the country, female or male, young or old, educated or not, at work or at home, are debating this most eye-catching entertainment TV show ever, with both hails and jeers. It is reported that "Super Girl" generated even more ratings than that of the benchmark Spring Festival Eve gala party of CCTV, China's central television station. Among the good words, quite a number of people argue that "Super Girl" creates a stage with equal opportunity for ordinary girls who are not talented at singing but dreaming of showing themselves, which was cited as the heartthrob to grab participations and eyeballs.
Zhang Hanyun, 16-year-old, last year's "Super Girl" third place holder from Sichuan Province, was unknown before she performed on the stage.
But unfortunately not all the opportunities lead to happy endings, though the girls have sung to their hearts' content, some ended up with sadness, or even, tragedy. It is reported that a 15-year-old girl from central China's Hunan Province who dreamed of becoming Super Girl but dissatisfied with her figure died of organ failure caused by hunger.
It is true that chances come to those who grab it, but one should have a real and objective self-appraisal before one sets to do something challenging. Huang Xin, a 36-year-old short and flat-busted "Super Girl" contestant won thousands of fans overnight and her performance sent shocking waves since the launch of the program.
"We admire Huang Xin because she still keeps a healthy and young heart, which is difficult for lots of people," one of the fans of Huang said. "She is magnanimous. I believe that in real life she is the same--tolerant and open-minded," the fan added.
If the poor girl from Hunan had been tolerant and open-minded with her own figure, she wouldn't have ended up with the invaluable sacrifice. Anyway what the "Super Girl" stage upholds is a brand-new slogan "sing as you want", regardless of one's appearance and age, as what has been learnt from Huang's performance. "Why not have one's own dreams as an ordinary person?" the fan of Huang mentioned above asked.
Among the critics, some pundits denounced "Super Girl" as vulgar because the cut-throat contest drove numerous crazy fans to swamp into the public to rally votes for the favorite "Super Girl" who may not be talented at singing at all, leaving chaos in public and creating lots of truant players.
However, "Super Girl" has become irreversible social phenomena after all, behind which an underlying social causes must be there.
First, a drastic change in aesthetics of young people is getting underway. "Super Girl" cracked down the traditional "beauty-dominated" entertainment program by welcoming all girls who just want to sing instead of merely good-looking girls.
Then the 2005 "Super Girl" took on a new look with nearly all the beautiful and lovely super girls in traditional sense kicked out in earlier rounds. Instead, it was the transgender looking Li Yuchun from Chengdu and Zhou Bichang from Hunan who claimed two of the final three with Li who earned 3.5 million votes all over the country by her idol-like neutral image crowned the top super girl.
Professor Yu Guomin at the Renmin University in Beijing pointed out that it is a result of free market economy. This is to say that in today's increasingly diverse world, ego worshiping has become a symbol of one's existence, through which one's personality and characteristic are fully displayed instead of drifting with the tide. This helps people know what they like and what they want in this free and competitive society.

Moreover, just think twice why this "vulgar" entertainment TV show became so popular as to cast shadow onto the benchmark Spring Festival Eve gala party of CCTV? It is much worth considering. TV programs are competing for audience by doing polls gathering the audiences' favorite programs and "Super Girl" succeeded in this by letting audience have the final say who is their favorite super girl.
By contrast, quite a lot of other entertainment programs mainly star celebrities, suiting part of the people's tastes, rather than most people's, except for that they are much more professional.
Anyway, the "Super Girl" phenomena are reflections of the progressing social lives; people tend to enjoy their lives in their own ways. And each emergence of new social phenomena deserves our close attention by welcoming their good sides and solving the problems accompanying them.
Democracy or Not ?
陈文斌 03级 10 班 200310411308 ‘The voting itself can not be called democracy. Except from voting,transparent procedure,equal rights, freedom of discussion and the respect towards others and an equitable role beyond any personal volition, are all indispensable parts in the definition of democracy.’For nearly three hours last week China stopped – and voted. But this was no political revolution.This was po pular culture at its most powerful and bizarre – a massive thumbs-u to a 21-year-old from Sichuan, who belted out a song called “Zombie”, a rendition of a hit by Irish rock band, the Cranberries. 　　The masses – young and old, male and female, the educated and humble workers – rned on, tuned in and amid jeers and hoorays, said “aye” or “nay” according to their pop taste. ? All are debating the biggest thing since instant noodles ?the TV entertainment TV show “Super Girl”, which has generated moreatings than the benchmark Spring Festival Eve gala party of CCTV (China’s Central Television). 　 Some 8 million Chinese, mostly young, send a “text message of support” via cell phos for one of the three Super Girl finalists. Li Yuchun, a music student whose tomboy looks and confidence onstage are the talk of Chinese chat rooms, won with 3.5 million votes. The three finalists, who also included Zhou Bichang and Zhang Liangying and all in their early 20s, became instant celebrities in a nation. China’s “Super Girl” is based on the British Pop Idol-style TV show whose grand finale of dancing and singing drew 400 million viewers last Friday night, roughly equivalent to every pon in the US and Britain.The show has created a stir from villages to cities, and is seen as a new phenomenon. Nothing this large and spontaneous has ever pushed its way unapproved into China’s mainstream media before And never before have the Chinese voted in such large numbers.Super Girl owes its popularity to its raw authenticity, to its unscripted creation of a feeling of “happiness”, and for indirectly giving a voice to individual Chinese via theelephone ballot box. Like American Idol, the program features a panel of judges drawn from the entertainment industry. In Changsha, the four arbiters were an agent, a composer, a TV producer and a folk singer. ? But the expert judges’ influence is dwarfed by that of 31 other judges drawn from the ranks of common people. Duringa series of dizzyingly complex showdowns that eliminated two of the five contestants, the amateur judges cast their votes by walking across the stage to single out their favorites as the studio band banged out up-tempo rock. The election process has set some Chinese pundits pondering this bizarre by-product of democracy. Some say the purpose of this programme is to showcase the variety of responses about democracy in China even if it is a result of a particular ‘vulgar’ television progra “Super Girl represents a victory ofgrass-roots over elite culture,” argues Beijing sociologist Li YinheLike American Idol, the program features a panel of judges drawn from the entertainment industry. In Changsha, the four arbiters were an agent, a composer, a TV producer and a folk singer. Like American Idol, the program features a panel of judges drawn from the entertainment industry. In Changsha, the four arbiters were an agent, a compo ser, a TV producer and a folk singer.“It’s like a giant game that has swept so many people into a euphoria of voting and selectingwhich is testament to a society opening up,” said a well-known critic Zhu Dake. He added it showed the public breaking loose from “elitist aesthetics” strangling China’s entertainment industry and the show had “bla trail for cultural democracy.”Super Girl may not represent serious democracy, but it has seemingly given the fantasy of such freedoms to 1.3 billion Chinese people who do not have an important say in how their li ves are governed. A netizen left his/her words on the web, “I don’t think that I will ever get to vote for a president in this lifetime, so I’ll choose a girl that I like Xu Jilin, a professor at East China Normal University, denied that democracy assert and the show claims to have opened. ‘The voting itself can not be called democracy. Except from voting,transparent procedure,equal rights, freedom of discussion and the respect towards others and an equitable role beyond any personal volition, are all indispensable parts in the definition of democracy.’

Is Super Girl a Force for Democracy?
　　“It’s like a giant game that has swept so many people into a euphoria of voting and selectingwhich is testament to a society opening up,” said a well-known critic Zhu Dake. He added it showed the public breaking loose from “elitist aesthetics” strangling China’s entertainment industry and the show had “bla trail for cultural democracy.”
　　Super Girl may not represent serious democracy, but it has seemingly given the fantasy of such freedoms to 1.3 billion Chinese people who do not have an important say in how their lives are governed. A netizen left his/her words on the web, “I don’t think that I will ever get to vote for a president in this lifetime, so I’ll choose a girl that I like
　　Xu Jilin, a professor at East China Normal University, denied that democracy assert and the show claims to have opened.
　　“The voting itself can not be called democracy. Except from voting, transparent procedure, equal ights, freedom of discussion and the respect towards others and an equitable role beyond any personal volition, are all indispensable parts in the definition of democracy. Unfortunately, we can’t see these in Super Girl” Xu said.
An editorial article in our sister paper, Beijing Youth Daily, also stated that the Super Girl is only a “pure entertainmentoccurrence” and has nothing to do with so-called “democracy awareness”. The show is managed and all the seemingly democratic details are all controlled by the operators. And the audiences are aware it all is a g and has no relevance to fundamental interest. 04级1班 林旭燕 学号222004307051020