一、听力练习
1.
A. To showcase cultural differences between Japan and Britain.
B. To expand the market for Japanese creative industries.
C. To stage traditional British plays in Japan.
D. To prove cultural differences are only superficial.
2.
A. The challenges of colonizing the moon.
B. Career and motherhood concerns.
C. Gender inequality in space exploration.
D. Equity within the workplace.
3.
A. They provide more funding opportunities for Japanese artists.
B. They help Japanese culture gain global recognition.
C. They prevent Japanese theater companies from struggling financially.
D. They focus on artistic fairness and equality in society.
二、听力文本
A playhouse in London, Britain and a theater from Osaka, Japan, are working together to prove cultural differences between the two countries are only on the surface. London's Charing Cross Theatre and Osaka's Umeda Arts Theater first worked together on a performance in 2019. After a break caused by the pandemic, they are jointly staging two plays in London this month. The plays are rooted in Japanese culture and deal with secretive relationships, but the concerns are universal. Actor Susan Momoko Hingley spoke of Japan's export of culture, including films and television series. She told the Reuters news agency, "It's really about getting great stories from all sorts of different cultures to Britain and to the West." She stars in One Small Step, written by Takuya Kato. It tells the story of a couple working for a company that is colonizing the moon. The plot becomes more complex with the news the woman is pregnant. It raises concerns audiences almost anywhere can relate to about motherhood, career and inequality between men and women. Kato, who is also the play's director, said, "In terms of equity, I think nowadays many people often say that we are striving for fairness within companies, within societies and between individuals." "But I think it is something that we understand with our heads but might not necessarily grasp it with our hearts,” he added. The London production, Kato said, gave new life to his play "at the intersection of two different cultures." He noted that for Japanese creative industries, the market within Japan may not be enough to support them. Working with companies in other countries helps the theater companies and expands knowledge of the culture. "If we don't grow the part of coproductions, which we have traditionally struggled with, it would be difficult to survive as both an industry and culture in the future," he said. Following One Small Step, which runs until October 9, Charing Cross Theatre will host Tattooer later in the month. The play, by another Japanese writer, Takuya Kaneshima, tells the story of a tattoo artist.
Question 1: What is the main purpose of the collaboration between the London and Osaka theaters?
Question 2: What is the central theme of the play "One Small Step"?
Question 3: Why does Takuya Kato believe that co-productions are important for Japanese creative industries?
三、重点词汇
1. pandemic: (of a disease) existing in almost all of an area or in almost all of a group of people, animals, or plants （疾病）大规模流行的，广泛蔓延的
四、背景知识
Susan is an actress of mixed British-Japanese descent. She performed in the original cast of six time Oliver Award Winning "My Neighbour Totoro" (Royal Shakespeare Company / Studio Ghibli), playing the role of Ms Hara. She has also recently performed in the world premiere stage versions of Shinkai Makoto's "The Garden of Words" (Park Theatre) and Takuya Kato's "One Small Step"(Charing Cross Theatre / Umeda Arts).（背景知识来自于https://www.susanhingley.com/）
五、参考答案
Question 1: D
Question 2: B
Question 3: B
六、网络翻译
英国伦敦的一家剧院和日本大阪的一家剧院正在合作，证明两国之间的文化差异只是表面现象。伦敦的查令十字剧院和大阪的梅田艺术剧院在2019年首次合作演出。由于疫情暂停合作后，他们本月在伦敦联合上演了两部戏剧。这些戏剧根植于日本文化，探讨了隐秘的关系，但其中的关切却是普遍的。演员苏珊·桃子·辛格利谈到了日本的文化输出，包括电影和电视剧。她在接受路透社采访时表示：“这实际上是关于将来自不同文化的好故事带到英国和西方。”她主演了由加藤拓也编剧的《一小步》。该剧讲述了一对为殖民月球的公司工作的夫妇的故事。随着女主角怀孕消息的公布，剧情变得更加复杂。它提出了几乎任何地方的观众都能感同身受的关于母职、职业和性别不平等的问题。该剧的编剧兼导演加藤表示：“关于公平性，我认为如今很多人常说我们正在为公司、社会和个人之间的公平而努力。”“但我认为这是我们用头脑理解的东西，却未必能用心去体会。”加藤补充道。他指出，伦敦的演出为他的戏剧“在两种不同文化的交汇点上”注入了新的生命。他还指出，对于日本的创意产业而言，仅靠日本国内市场可能不足以支撑他们。与其他国家的公司合作，不仅帮助了这些剧院公司，还扩展了人们对日本文化的认识。“如果我们不发展合作制作的部分——这是我们传统上一直在挣扎的方面——未来无论是作为一个产业还是文化都将很难生存下去，”他说。在《一小步》于10月9日结束演出后，查令十字剧院将在本月晚些时候上演另一部由日本作家金岛拓也编写的戏剧《纹身师》，该剧讲述了一位纹身师的故事。
七、版权说明
英文新闻来自于VOA；背景知识来自于国内等多个平台。本平台属于公益平台，未通过转载相关内容获得相关利益。文章不涉及打赏及相关产品推荐等。转载相关中文背景知识出于传递更多信息、方便学生理解相关新闻背景；英文文章及音频所传递的观点与本公众号无关。网络翻译来源于ChatGPT的在线翻译，翻译内容仅供参考。此外，内容删减仅是因为篇幅以及考虑学生接受等目的，不涉及歪曲事实观点及作者相关意见。若有来源标注错误或侵犯了您的合法权益，请与本公众号运营人员进行联系，我们将及时更正、删除，谢谢。 邮箱地址：yangyanchao@mmc.edu.mo
