Unit 1 补充阅读理解练习 The Monkey King： A Chinese story with universal appeal 阅读原文 20232024学年人教版（201高中英语选择性必修

The Monkey King:A Chinesestory withuniversal appealTheMonkey King,like manyfamous fictionalheroes—Harry Potter,Batman,LittleOrphan Annie—had anunhappy childhood.Sprung froma rockon amythical mountain,heovercame earlyhardship tohone hisfighting skills,learning tosomersault overclouds andto turneachhair onhis bodyinto aversion ofhis warriorself.With hismix ofmischief andmight,he issimilarto manysuperheroes inHollywood movies.But theMonkey Kingis different:he ismorethan400years oldand comesfrom China.Released onNetflix inAugust,a newanimated version of TheMonkeyKingis fullofdramas,as Monkeyfaces down100demons andtries toachieve immortality.The filmis thelatestin along lineof adaptationsof“Journey to the West”,one of the mostfamous novelsin Chineseliterature,published inthe MingDynasty.The novelis afantastical retellingof ajourney undertakenby amonk inthe seventhcenturyto findsacred Buddhistscriptures;the Westin itstitle refersto India.In thepast centurythe bookhas beenadapted intomore than60films,countless TVshows,childrens books,video games,a themepark andLego toys.Japan hasbeen behindseveralsuccessful adaptations,including DragonBall”,a mangaversionofthe storythat hassoldmillions ofcopies andbeen developedinto agaming franchise.As inall goodstorytelling,from Shakespeareto StarWars,the ultimatefight inthis storyisfor theprotagonists soul.Monkey Kingsphysical journeyis overlaidwith amental one.EachMonkey Kingretelling hasserved asa mirroron itstimes,reflecting theanxieties ofits creators.Some interpretationshave concentratedon theneed fordiscipline tosilencethe innervoice.Others stressthe democratisingtheme ofa lowlybeing risingto greatheights.Flexible interpretationofthenovels messagehas allowedthe storyto thrivein China.Thereare alot oforiginal storiesthat canbe exploredand adaptedfrom themillennia-old traditionalChineseculture.I amlooking forwardtotheanimation becomingan internationalhit andmorepeople appreciatingChinas richculture.。