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Acrobatics, song, puppetry and martial arts have combined to spectacular effect in the Australian version of "Monkey King, Journey to the West". The show will be staged at the Sydney Opera House next month.

Created by Kim Carpenter and co-directed by John Bell, one of Australia's most celebrated theatre figures, the ancient Chinese fable has been given an Aussie touch.

Carpenter says the Chinese sense of humor in "Journey to the West" relates well to Australians.

He says the Australian sense of humor is similar to the Chinese. There is irreverence and that is why this production has been a hit with the local people.

"Journey to the West" is a classic Chinese novel written in the 16th century. The book has a huge following in China.

acrobatics n. 杂技 没有s的acrobatic是形容词，如acrobatic performance（杂技表演）

puppetry n. 木偶戏 没有ry的puppet也是名词，指的是木偶本身，而不是木偶戏这种表现形式

Journey to the West n. 《西游记》中国古典四大名著之一，由明代小说家吴承恩所创作的中国古代第一部浪漫主义的长篇神魔小说。主要描写了唐朝太宗贞观年间孙悟空、猪八戒、沙僧、白龙马四人保护唐僧西行取经，沿途历经磨难，一路降妖伏魔，化险为夷，最后到达西天，取得真经的故事。取材于《大唐三藏取经诗话》和民间传说。由于孙悟空是主角，不少英文媒体会直接用Monkey King（美猴王）来指代《西游记》。
Sydney Opera House n. 悉尼歌剧院 澳大利亚的象征性标志，座落在悉尼市区北部，外型犹如即将乘风出海的白色风帆。该建筑由丹麦建筑师约恩•乌松设计，建设时间耗时14年，于1973年10月20日正式竣工开幕。这座综合性的艺术中心在现代建筑史上被认为是巨型雕塑式的典型作品，2007年被联合国教科文组织列入《世界文化遗产名录》。

fable n. 寓言 中国人可能觉得寓言都是类似守株待兔、刻舟求剑那种短小的故事，所以《西游记》似乎不该叫fable。其实没有这一说。fable的英文定义是：A story that teaches a moral lesson. Fables sometimes have animals as the main characters. 由此可见，用fable形容《西游记》完全没问题。

touch n. 风格，手法 touch的这种用法虽然远不如“触碰”常见，但频率也不低。可以跟have、give等动词搭配，表示具有或赋予某种风格。
例句：
My mom’s dishes have a very distinct personal touch. I can tell you with absolutely certainty that she was the cook today. （我妈做的菜有很明显的个人风格。我可以非常确定地告诉你，今天的厨子就是她。）
I like your writing, but something seems to be missing. Maybe you should give the book more of a Chinese touch to appeal to the readers here. （我喜欢你的文字，但总觉得还欠缺一些东西。也许你应该赋予这本书一些中国风格，以便吸引这里的读者。）

irreverence n. 不尊，不敬重

following n. 支持者，拥护者 这是个典型的集合名词，以单数形式出现，一般都是someone/something has a huge following，效果等于someone/something has a huge number of followers。