Take Away English-Jet Li 李连杰

monks1" width="203" src="/upimg/allimg/080603/1037150.jpg" /> Monks from the real Shaolin Temple show off their skills

Actor Jet Li has hit the headlines this week because he has broken the record for the highest salary earned by a Chinese film star. China’s highest-earning star will receive 100m yuan (£6.5 million) for his latest movie, 'The Warlords (投名状)'.

The film, directed by Peter Chan is a martial² arts drama, telling the story of three brothers) who turn against one another over a beautiful woman. It is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion. The other two brothers are played by Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

As a teenager, Jet Li was a Wushu champion, and won many medals for his martial arts. His fame from martial arts led to his film debut³ in 1982 in 'Shaolin Temple', having acquired the screen name Jet Li as a change from his real name Li Lianjie.

He has an extensive filmography of Chinese and Hong Kong cinema, including the famous series of films 'Once upon a time in China', about the legendary⁴ hero Wong Fei Hung.

However, Jet Li has also in the last 10 years become a Hollywood star, in films such as 'Lethal⁵ Weapon 4', 'The Kiss of the dragon', 'Romeo must die', 'The One' and 'Hero'.

Next year his film catalogue will increase again, with his next two films both coming out in 2008. One is the second sequel to The Mummy – 'The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'. The other, 'The Forbidden Kingdom' will see Jet Li teaming up with the renowned⁶ kung-fu and film star Jackie Chan.

'The Warlords' will be released across Asia on 13th December, and hopefully we’ll see it in Britain next year. Although Jet Li has now sworn off doing any more Wushu epics⁷, I'm sure we'll continue to see his work in Chinese and Hollywood films in years to come.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

hit the headlines 成为新闻头条 highest-earning 收入最高的 turn against one another 反目为仇/互为对立的 debut 首场演出 screen name 电影名 legendary 传奇的 sequel (影片)续集 renowned 享有盛名的 sworn off 谢绝

broken the record 打破纪录 martial arts 武术 rebellion 反叛 acquired 获得 filmography (某一名演员导演的)全部影片目录 coming out 出版/上映 teaming up with 和…携手合作 released 发行

1 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

3 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

4 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

5 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

6 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

7 epics   

n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 )；壮举；惊人之举；史诗般的电影（或书籍）

参考例句：

• one of the great Hindu epics 伟大的印度教史诗之一
• Homer Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost are epics. 荷马的《伊利亚特》和弥尔顿的《失乐园》是史诗。 来自互联网