“Micro-dramas（微短剧）” 正变得日益风靡。这些每集时长仅有一分钟的剧集专为手机播放而设计，旨在能瞬间抓住观众的好奇心。虽然缺乏传统影视剧细腻的打磨，但微短剧凭借夸张的表演和高频反转的剧情弥补了制作上的简化，吸引了大量用碎片化时间追剧的观众。本文简要探讨微短剧是否正在重塑影音娱乐的未来。

词汇：TV and film 电视和电影

1  Streaming video platforms have given filmmakers massive budgets and allowed them to make creative and artistic films and series free of the restrictions of cinema or broadcast time slots. But, maybe, just maybe, not everyone wants a three-hour long work of creative genius. Minute-long micro-dramas are taking the entertainment market by storm.

2  Perhaps most people are looking for something that they can squeeze into their everyday life. Micro-dramas cater perfectly for this need. It's not just that you can watch them on your phone, they're made for it. They're shot in vertical format, so you don't even have to turn your phone round to start watching. Series are split into as many as a hundred short episodes, so they can fit into any spare downtime that you have.

3  For this to work, it needs a new kind of programme. US tech company Quibi tried to use traditional Hollywood stars, and collapsed in less than a year, taking $1.75 billion dollars' worth of investment with it. Chinese start-up companies took a different approach, focusing on low-cost production and using analytics data and AI analysis to identify exactly what gets the audience to start watching, and then how to make the next episode feel unmissable.

4  Billionaires, breakups and bust-ups: those are the key themes that get the audience watching. There isn't much room for nuance or slow-build character development in a micro-drama, but what is needed is drama. Rather than a subscription model, monetisation in the world of micro-dramas is often based on a freemium model. You can see enough episodes to get you hooked for free. But you need to buy credits to find out how the story ends. This means that dramatic cliffhangers are a commercial tool.

5  These dramas are increasing in popularity around the world. There is also great potential to make money from advertising as audiences are highly engaged. After China, the US has become the biggest micro-drama market. Could it be that soon most of the drama we watch is on our phones in those minutes we find between our other daily tasks?

测验与练习

一、将标题和段落配对。

Paragraph 1 _______
Paragraph 2 _______
Paragraph 3 _______
Paragraph 4 _______
Paragraph 5 _______

a. Made for daily life
b. Small budgets used well
c. A growing trend
d. From high-budget epics to minute-long micro-dramas
e. Social media success
f. Maximum drama

二、根据文章内容选出正确的选项。

1. Streaming platforms have provided filmmakers with a large number of resources.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given

2. What does 'they' refer to in the following sentence? Micro-dramas cater perfectly for this need. It's not just that you can watch them on your phone, they're made for it.
a. phones
b. audiences
c. micro-dramas

3. What has AI analysis been used for?
a. identifying competitors
b. writing longer scripts
c. finding ways to keep people watching

4. Realistic characters are needed for micro-dramas to succeed.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given

5. Micro-dramas are always free for viewers.
a. True
b. False
c. Not given

三、用下列单词完成对本文的总结。

Micro-dramas 1) _______ for the need to fill short breaks in our daily life. Each episode is carefully designed to feel 2) _______. Every instalment ends on a 3) _______ to make sure people come back for the next one. This ensures that the audience stays 4) _______. Producers' 5) _______ strategy is to only let people see the final episodes if they buy credits.

monetisation
cater
cliffhanger
hooked
analytics
unmissable
format

（答案见词汇表后）

词汇表

time slot  时段，时间档
take… by storm  风靡…，席卷…
cater  迎合，满足
vertical   竖屏的，纵向的
format  格式，形式
downtime  休息时间，空闲时间
start-up  初创的，启动阶段的
analytics  分析学（方法或技术）
unmissable  不容错过的
bust-up  致使关系破裂的激烈争吵
theme  主题
nuance  细微差别
slow-build  慢节奏铺垫，缓慢建立的
monetisation  变现，盈利方式
freemium  免费增值模式
hooked  入迷的，上瘾的
cliff-hanger  悬念

答案

一、将标题和段落配对。

Paragraph 1 d) From high-budget epics to minute-long micro-dramas
Paragraph 2 a) Made for daily life
Paragraph 3 b) Small budgets used well
Paragraph 4 f) Maximum drama
Paragraph 5 c) A growing trend

二、根据文章内容选出正确的选项。

1. a. True. Streaming video platforms have given filmmakers massive budgets and allowed them to make creative and artistic films and series free of the restrictions of cinema or broadcast time slots.

2. c. The pronoun 'they' refers to micro-dramas as it is talking about the way that they are made.

3. c. Chinese start-up companies took a different approach, focusing on low-cost production and using analytics data and AI analysis to identify exactly what gets the audience to start watching, and then how to make the next episode feel unmissable.

4. b. False. There isn't much room for nuance or slow-build character development in a micro-drama, but what is needed is drama.

5. b. False. You can see enough episodes to get you hooked for free. But you need to buy credits to find out how the story ends.

三、用下列单词完成对本文的总结。

Micro-dramas cater for the need to fill short breaks in our daily life. Each episode is carefully designed to feel unmissable. Every instalment ends on a cliffhanger to make sure people come back for the next one. This ensures that the audience stays hooked. Producers' monetisation strategy is to only let people see the final episodes if they buy credits.