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Words
in the News
Monday 20 May 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find
explanations of difficult words below.
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Taiwanese boy band in China
Summary: In China, a concert by the Taiwanese 'boy band' F4 has been cancelled. The concert was organised to wish China's football team good luck in the World Cup football finals. This report from Duncan Hewitt:
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The
News 
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It may be the nearest to Beatlemania China has ever seen. When F4 appeared at a Shanghai shopping centre this weekend, an estimated ten thousand fans, mostly girls between twelve and sixteen, queued for up to fifteen hours to see them.
Local media described screaming fans fainting during the band's appearance, which ended after ten minutes, after security guards warned of potential pandemonium. No official explanation has been given for the sudden cancellation of the concert in which F4 were due to play the next day, after a football match involving the Chinese national team. But organisers said police were worried they might not be able to control the behaviour of F4's fans.
The band, made up of four previously unknown young actors, have provoked hysteria across Asia since starring in the Taiwanese TV series, "Meteor Garden", in which they play the disaffected student sons of four of Taiwan's richest families.
A number of local Chinese TV stations bought the programme, but it was banned after just six episodes. Parents denounced the story as 'electronic heroin', complaining that the main characters spent all their time chasing girls, and no time on their studies.
Duncan Hewitt, BBC, Shanghai
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The
Words
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Beatlemania
wild, uncontrolled excitement (hysteria) among fans of the popular UK band of the 1960s and 1970s, the Beatles
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queued
waited in line, in a queue
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fainting
losing consciousness
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potential
the possibility of
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pandemonium
a situation of noisy chaos
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provoked
caused, been the cause of
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hysteria
wild, uncontrolled excitement
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disaffected
discontented, unhappy and lacking motivation
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denounced
criticised, condemned
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'electronic heroin'
having the effect of a strong, addictive drug, though delivered via the electronic medium of television
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Read
more about this story |
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Other Words in the News archives
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