Turandot in BeijngBoys and girls, I’m glad to tell you that today we’ll have a chance to enjoy a section of performance of Giacomo Puccini’s world-famous opera, Turandot. OK. It is performed in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Can you guess who directed it? (Zhang Yimou.) Have you seen any of Zhang Yimou’s films? Do you like them? Why or why not?What else has Zhang Yimou directed besides films? ( They are the ‘Bid for the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing’, which was shown in Moscow, a performance at the closing ceremony at Athens Olympic Games, an outdoor performance of Third Sister Liu in Guilin and Turandot in Beijing).Have you seen or have you ever heard of the opera Turandot? If you have seen or heard of it, Can you tell us what it is about?Step 2: Fast reading for general ideasA review is a report or an essay giving some information as well as some opinions or ideas about a book, a performance, a painting or something similar.In our lesson today, we will read a review of an opera. What do you think the review will tell us? (It will give us some background information about Turandot, tell us about the plot of the opera and give other information, such as the actors’ names, as well as an evaluation of the performance as a whole.)Go through the passage as quickly as possible and try to find answers to the three questions in part A on page 2. Just focus on and identify the information needed to answer these questions. Answers A 1 Turandot is an opera that tells the story of a cold-hearted Chinese princess, named Turandot, who lives in the Forbidden City. To avoid marriage, she says that any potential husband must answer three riddles correctly or die. 2 Giacomo Pu...
