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Art In The Age Of SARS1
Outside a traditional Chinese medicine shop in Hong Kong, locals mill about2 , their mouths covered with white masks. They look like ordinary Asian shoppers in the age of SARS — but they are in fact actors shooting the forthcoming film"The City of SARS. "An anguished look at life in the territory during the epidemic , the film includes a segment starring veteran Hong Kong actor Eric Tsang as a flashy businessman contemplating suicide after the pneumonia outbreak threatens to ruin him financially."[SARS is] our Titanic , " says Tsang between takes."A lot of acts of bravery and heroism were involved. "
Every artist knows that turmoil fuels creativity. And from February to June in 2003, nothing has caused more turmoil in Asia than severe acute respiratory syndrome. Now, from Shanghai to Singapore, the drama of living with SARS is producing an artistic movement of sorts. Through a wide range of new paintings, photographs, plays, films and songs, Asia's artists are expressing the diverse emotions — fear, anger and even hope — triggered by the disease .
Some artists are simply determined to make a record of this atypical3 period."Artists are more sensitive than ordinary people, "says a Singaporean painter. His abstract work"A Year to Remember", made with oil, batik, sand and rice paper on canvas, has no special message but was inspired by the complex feelings that emerged while he listened to the daily news of the war in Iraq and the progress of the disease .
Others intend their art to provoke discussion. Singaporean playwright and actress Li Xie wrote the interactive Mandarin-language play"SARS"after witnessing negative reactions — like the ostracization of medical workers — in the early days of the outbreak. Li's drama, which requires audience participation, has been playing to positive reviews. Ordinary citizens, too, have felt compelled to create . When the Hong Kong Arts Center announced the creation of a SARS-inspired exhibited called"A Time Like This", it was flooded with entries from the general public . Students, forced to stay home after school was suspended, contributed more than 80 poems, cartoons and drawings — many about the extreme boredom they felt while in isolation. The Shanghai Museum of Art is holding an online exhibit and sale of calligraphic art inspired by SARS — the proceeds of which will go4 to SARS research.
The director of"The City of SARS"is hopeful that his flick will capture a momentous time in history."No other event like this may pass my way again, "he says.
練習題：
Ⅰ. True or False:
1. People outside the medicine shop are ordinary Asian shoppers in the age of SARS.
2. Through a wide range of new art forms Asia's artists are expressing the diverse emotions triggered by the disease .
3. All the artists simply determined to make a record of this atypical period.
4. The Shanghai Museum of Art held an exhibit to make profits for its own sake.
Ⅱ. Questions:
1. How did the Singapore painter make his abstract work A Year to Remember?
2. Why Li Xie wrote the play"SARS"?
