2020-2021学年度第16期总第815期
Virtual beauty takes stage (P4)
山东省烟台第二中学 赵娜娜

Lead-in
What are your impressions of these girls?

virtual idol

Their realistic appearance is computer generated. Like other social media influencers, they post their life on social media and appear in fashion magazines, attracting a great number of fans.

Ling is one of the virtual idols and participates in CCTV 3’s talent show Bravo Youngsters (《上线吧！华彩少年》).

Title prediction
Virtual beauty takes stage

Read the title and predict what the passage is about.

•What does “virtual beauty” refer to?
•What kind of stage does this virtual beauty take?
•What influence will this phenomenon have?

While-reading
Read the text carefully and answer the following questions.

1. What features does Ling have?
2. What influence does Ling have on Chinese culture?
3. What does Chen say about virtual idols?

Reading for details

1. What features does Ling have?

Ling behaves like an actual human social media star. She attends fashion events, promotes designer clothes and brands, and shares her life on Sina Weibo.

Unlike human influencers who will get old, or may become involved in some sort of scandal (丑闻), digital influencers are young, flexible, manageable and controllable.

2. What influence does Ling have on Chinese culture?

Ling helps promote Chinese culture on social media.

“I love traditional Chinese culture, especially Peking Opera, calligraphy (书法) and tai chi. I hope that I can interpret (阐释) these art forms in my own way on the stage,” Ling posted on her weibo account on Nov 22.

Ling herself is the best illustration of her love for Chinese traditional culture.

Her name, Ling, comes from the feathered headdress worn in Peking Opera. Her voice in the talent show follows the school of the late Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang. And her face is even designed to look good while wearing Peking Opera makeup.

3. What does Chen say about virtual idols?

Chen Zhe believes that the rise of virtual influencers will bring challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, they have great advantages like long-lasting youth and being manageable. On the other, the market needs more localized virtual influencers whose content design is tailored (专门制作) to connect with Chinese people and more modes of commercial collaboration (协作) need to be explored.

Virtual idols are having increasing impacts.

holographic (全息成像的) concerts

e-commerce (电商) livestreaming platforms

The country’s animation (动画), comics and games (ACG) fan base is expected to reach 410 million by the end of this year.

Post-reading
Do you like virtual idols? What’s your opinion on Ling competing with real human contestants in the talent show?

Language Study
1.仔细看                take a closer look at
2.网红                    social media influencer
3.电脑生成的            computer generated
4.最好的阐释            the best illustration of
5.化着京剧的妆          wear Peking Opera makeup
6.打破障碍                break down barriers
7.电商流媒体平台        e-commerce livestreaming platforms
8.粉丝基础              fan base
9.预计达到              is expected to reach
10.……的兴起            the rise of
11.带来挑战和机遇        bring challenges and opportunities
12.商业合作            commercial collaboration
Exercise
Imitative writing

1. Ling is not the only virtual idol who is attracting Chinese youths growing up in the internet era.

仿写：电脑游戏不是唯一使计算机时代成长起来的年轻人沉迷的东西。

Online games are not the only product that is captivating Chinese youths growing up in the internet era.

Homework
Write down your opinion on virtual idols.