Supplementary Material I.

Watch a video clip about the reasons for reading literature and fill in the blanks.

                            What is literature for?

1. It saves you time.

    1) Literature is ultimately the greatest ______________________.

    2) Literature is the greatest _________________, a machine that puts you through situations.

    3) It lets you ________________: to see life from childhood to old age.

    4) It gives you the keys to the palace, and to countless bedrooms.

    5) It introduces you to ___________________.

2. ___________________________.

    1) Literature shows us ___________________ from someone else's point of view.

    2) It allows us to ____________________ of our actions.

3. ___________________________.

    1) We find descriptions of who we _____________________ are and what events are like.

    2) Writers open our _____________________, and give us maps to our own selves.

    3) Books are our ____________________.

4. ___________________________.

    1) A lot of literature is also about _____________________.

    2) They ___________________ for the hero and fear for ourselves.

    3) It's really ___________________, in the broad sense.

Supplementary Material II.

A. The words in bold are from the lecture in this part. Figure out the meaning of each word.

1. If something spawns something else, it causes it to happen or to be created.

2. A spin-off is a book, film, or television series that comes after a successful book, film, or television series.

3. If you describe someone or something as intimidating, you mean that they are frightening and make people lose confidence.

4. Scripture refers to writings that are regarded as holy in a religion, for example, the Bible in Christianity.

5. If you atone for something that you have done, you do something to show that you are sorry you did it.

6. You use nominal to indicate that someone or something is supposed to have a particular identity or status, but in reality, does not have it.

7. In religions such as Christianity, to redeem someone means to save them by freeing them from sin and evil.

8. If you say that someone or something is incarnated in a particular form, you mean that they appear on earth in that form.

9. Gluttony is the act or habit of eating too much and being greedy.

B. Watch a lecture about the novel Journey to the West and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

(     ) 1. Journey to the West is a storehouse of knowledge and culture of ancient China.

(     ) 2. The novel is the most well-known of the four classical novels outside of China, due to its martial arts depictions.

(     ) 3. The novel contains many unrelated histories and folktales woven into a single narrative.

(     ) 4. The shortest part of the novel has only two chapters.

(     ) 5. Wujing is the most polite and loyal figure of Xuanzang's disciples.

C. Watch the lecture again and fill in the blanks.

1. Journey to the West is the most well-known of the four classical novels outside of China, thanks 

    largely to _________________, a popular English translation by Arthur Waley.

2. It is an epic tale of the journey of the monk Xuanzang, comprised of ________________ chapters 

    and  divided into ________________ parts.

3. The first seven chapters form ________________ which tells the sotry of Sun Wukong.

4. Part Three of the novel tells of Xuanzang's journey to the West to ________________.

5. Sun Wukong and Xuanzang achieved the status of Buddhahood, __________________________ of 

    enlightenment in Buddhism.

D. Watch the lecture for the third time and answer the following questions.

1.  What is Journey to the West about? Why is it still popular today?

    ________________________________________________________________

2.  Can you recount the background introductions of Wukong and Xuanzang, and compare the two in terms of their personality and actions?

    _________________________________________________________________

3.  Is Bajie a despicable or lovable character? Why? Is he indispensable to the story? Why or why not?

    _________________________________________________________________

Supplementary Material III.

Watch a video clip about the history of drama and fill in the blanks of the summary.

In literature , the word "drama" defines _____________, or style of writing. Drama is a play that can be 

performed for theater, ____________, or even ____________. "Drama" refers to the script, while the word 

"theater" is _______________. The origin of the word "drama" comes from the Greek word meaning 

"______________." The spread of Christianity led to the existence of allegorical morality plays of the 

Medieval Europe, featuring a hero who must _____________, and this hero represented _____________. 

Today's theater includes both the staged theater and ______________; we also listen to radio dramas 

and _______________ and use our imagination to play out the story we hear.