"Reign of Assassins" premieres

    BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The highly-anticipated（预期的） martial-arts saga¹ "Reign² of Assassins" ("Jian Yu") premiered in Beijing on Sunday with its star-studded cast and crew in attendance（出席）.
    John Woo, one of the best-known Chinese directors, has clarified（澄清） his role in the film, saying he was its executive producer rather than its director as previously³ reported.
    Woo spoke⁴ highly of the actual director, Su Chao-Bin, who also wrote the story. Su is known as the writer of Chen Kuo-Fu's 2002 thriller⁵, "Double Vision" ("Shuang Tong").
    "Reign of Assassins（刺杀）", led by Michelle Yeoh and Jung Woo-Sung, tells a story similar to "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Set in ancient China, a couple living in a peaceful town each come to realize that the other is a world-class assassin.
    The stellar supporting cast also includes Shawn Yue, Barbie Hsu, Kelly Lin, Paw Hee-Ching, Pace Wu, Leon Dai, Wang Xueqi and Jiang Yiyan.
    Critics who have previewed the film call it the best martial-arts epic⁶ since "Crouching⁷ Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Ang Lee's 2000 Oscar-winning film which also stars Michelle Yeoh.
    "Reign of Assassins" opens in Chinese theaters on September 28.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

2 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

6 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

7 crouching   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a hulking figure crouching in the darkness 黑暗中蹲伏着的一个庞大身影
• A young man was crouching by the table, busily searching for something. 一个年轻人正蹲在桌边翻看什么。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译