"Hawthorn Tree" girl to lead Stanley Kwan's film

（单词翻译）

    BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Zhou Dongyu, the starlet in Zhang Yimou's drama "Under the Hawthorn¹ Tree", has been cast as a lead for Stanley Kwan's upcoming romantic film, "Ta De Guo" ("His Kingdom"), according to the Guangzhou Daily.
    The newspaper cited Kwan as saying that 19-year-old Zhou is a perfect candidate(候选人) for the role, Niba, who is supposed to be clean and pure.
    Zhou was a high school student when she was chosen to star in Zhang Yimou's "Under the Hawthorn Tree", which was her acting² debut³. She rose to stardom soon after the film's release, in September, 2010.
    "His Kingdom", an adaptation of Han Han's best-selling novel of the same name, will center on the love stories of a young man living in a small town.
    Director Kwan says singer-actor Juno Mak will play the protagonist⁴, but he is yet to announce the other female lead.
    Rumors⁵ have it that Kwan is deciding between Kwai Lun-mei and Zhang Yuqi.
    Filming will begin in June.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）