21世纪英语报

读：改编自安妮宝贝同名小说的电影《七月与安生》近期正在热映。电影中，两个性格截然不同的女孩结为挚友，她们的人生相互交错，也折射出了每个人灵魂中的两面。

For the last couple of years, young adult romance films, adapted from online fiction by mainland producers/directors, have become a *synonym for poor quality. Soulmate (《七月与安生》), which hit cinemas on Sept 15, however, is trying to change all this.

Soulmate is based on best-selling coming-of-age story of the same name by novelist Li Jie, who’s better known by her pen name Anni Baobei. It revolves around the relationship between two girls, *rebellious and *erratic Li Ansheng (Zhou Dongyu) and disciplined goody two-shoes Lin Qiyue (Ma Sichun). They have been best friends since they were 13 but their friendship is put to the test when a man bursts into their lives and changes everything.

As of Sept 19, the film has *garnered a very respectable 7.7 points out of 10 at review site https://www.360docs.net/doc/a81734563.html,, which is by far the highest score a domestic film has managed this year.

The *premise of a love triangle sounds like just another tired Chinese youth film. But Soulmate decides to *ditch the done-to-death plotlines, instead of focusing on something that it hopes will offer better resonance with its target audience.

The movie centers around the two girls’ intense friendship with one another. While Li’s w orks are famous for being filled with *rhetorical flourishes, the film is brimming with small details which help bring the story to life and make it more relatable to a female audience.

Ansheng and Qiyue sleep in the same bed, take a bath in the same tub, they are even familiar with each other’s bra size. They know each other inside out and are willing to do anything for one another. But at the same time they find themselves forced to choose between what matters the most – their long-standing friendship or their newly found romance. The man whom the two girls fall in love with acts more like a *catalyst for the *deterioration and restoration of their friendship.

Producer Peter Chan (陈可辛) calls Derek Tsang (曾国祥) “a director who best understands females,” and whoever has watched the film would agree.

More than simply trying to move the audience with *nuanced *sentiments, Soulmate is also thought provoking. Ansheng and Qiyue live completely *intertwined lives–they are the same person’s left hand and right hand–as one online commenter puts it – but they still yearn for a deeper love outside of their friendship. The original novel which the movie is based upon ends seemingly positively: The “good” girl settles down into a “good” life with her first love. But the film totally twists the pair’s stories. The beautifully composed closing scene of the film shows viewers a more complex side to Ansheng and Qiyue and even provokes viewers to question themselves, asking: Who actually are we and who do we want to be?

Modest megastar小岳岳：相声界的阿甘

导读：他内向、害羞、寡言少语，许多人都认为他并不适合相声这门艺术。但通过自身的努力，岳云鹏最终还是成为了相声界的一代巨星。

Introverted, shy, reserved. These are hardly words one would normally associate with a comedian, but Yue Yunpeng, who possesses all these traits offstage, has become one of Chi na’s favorite *crosstalk superstars.

Among the many crosstalk performers who are also currently active in theater and TV shows, Yue’s prevalence comes second only to his master, Guo Degang. Not only a star of the traditional Chinese comedic performance scene, 31-year-old Yue has expanded his horizons to include movies. In the romantic drama I Belonged to You (《从你的全世界路过》) which was released on Sept 29, he plays a silly yet loveable fool.

Like many of his peers, Yue first started to learn crosstalk as a survival skill. But unlike most other

*apprentices, *buttering up the master wasn’t one of his strong points. Even worse, he found himself judged by peers as not being cut out for the art, even ending up on the *verge of being thrown out of the comedy club Deyun Society on three separate occasions.

Modern crosstalk is made up of four essential skills – speaking, imitating, teasing and singing. Yue, a man of few words, later discovered his vocal chords were best suited to singing and imitating– his self-arranged song Five Rings (《五环之歌》) has become a national hit.

Yue has also gradually formed his own style of speaking – mean, but in a funny way. He reorganizes some classic crosstalk works and adds his own distinctive Henan *dialect to them. If audience members heckle crosstalkers during a show, while Guo Degang would retaliate in a witty way, Yue goes for a more direct approach, normally shouting: “Get out!” His *straightforward language, alongside his

*exaggerated facial expressions – especially his popped-out but small eyes – create *hilarious comedic effects.

An article by Blog Weekly calls Yue “the Forrest Gump of the crosstalk world”, but while crosstalk may not have come naturally to him at first, his *persistence and sincerity have led to his success.

As a down-to-earth figure, Yue attracts fans not only with his talent, but more importantly, his

*authenticity. He even admits to Marie Claire magazine that he take offers of TV reality shows and films just to make more money. Wang Yuqin（←？查过了，说这个人叫王俣钦）, Yue’s ag ent, also tells Blog Weekly that Yue doesn’t like it when someone stands behind him to take a picture and then

*ridicules his big face.

He doesn’t see himself as a pin-up celebrity. He’s not a *flatterer. He responds to annoying things just as we non-famou s people do. But just like us, he’s not perfect, except at crosstalking, that is.

Heritage should be remembered这些百年老建筑值得被铭记

导读：“首批中国20世纪建筑遗产”名录于近日公布，人民大会堂、上海外滩等近代历史建筑榜上有名，唤起了人们对这些百年历史老建筑的保护意识。

A national list of architectural masterpieces was released in Beijing on Sept 29 to remind people of the country’s disappearing heritage.

Ninety-eight sites were *inscribed into the first edition of the 20th-Century Chinese Architectural Heritage List, which was drafted by the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics and the Architectural Society of China.

Landmark architecture of New China, like the Great Hall of the People and the Monument to the People’s Heroes, ranked high up on the list.

Renowned Western-style architecture from the early 20th century was also included, such as the Bund in Shanghai, the Russian-style Saint Sofia Cathedral in Harbin, Heilongjiang, and Tianjin’s Marco Polo Square, a former Italian community.

College campuses also play host to notable architecture. Old buildings at Tsinghua University, Nanjing University and Wuhan University are among some of the buildings that made the list.

“Many of the included structures have abundant stories and are witnesses of historical *vicissitude, and they are thus alive,” said Shan Jixiang, head of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics. “However, more historical communities from the 20th century outside the list are endangered.”

He added that the new list will work as a way to make people more aware of preserving more recent architectural sites for future generations.

“When restoring them, they should be treated as cultural heritage sites rather than general construction. Otherwise, historical information will be *irreversibly lost,” he said.

As an architect, Shan criticized the way China became a playground for fo reign designers’ *maverick blueprints in the first decade of the 21st century.

“Masterpieces of the 20th century prove that Chinese architects’ spirit and techniques are well inherited,” he said. “And they deserve to be passed on to modern times.”

“The list shows that a new type has been added into categories of immovable cultural heritage sites,” said Gu Yucai, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. “This meets common practice in the rest of world.”