Okay, here is the translation following your instructions: Program Host Role: Awkwardness and Transcendence

Author: Li Li (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-06-01
Features: For the sake of love, one can become emaciated—Modern famous scholar Wang Guowei wrote in Words on Human Life about the three stages of pursuing knowledge: "Last night the west wind withered the green trees. I climbed alone to the west tower, gazing into the endless distance." "My belt grew loose, but I never regretted it, for the sake of her, I became emaciated." "In the crowd, I searched for her a thousand times, but suddenly I turned around and found her in the dimly lit corners." In other words, as a great scholar, one must first have a grand vision and lofty aspirations; through arduous pursuit and unwavering dedication, one can overcome the confusion of "searching for her a thousand times in the crowd" and savor the joy of success. Similarly, every touching and moving line spoken by a program host is the result of long-term "exerting one's physical strength and hardening one's will." Cronkite hosted the Apollo moon landing, delving deeply into aerospace knowledge, and in the program, he made the dull and tedious content come alive, earning him the nickname "the eighth astronaut"; Song Shixiong, in order to vividly depict the ups and downs and rapid changes of sports events, often stood on the street, observing passing vehicles and crowds to train his ability to choose words and structure his thoughts. The success of these program hosts undoubtedly stems from their diligent learning and conscientious work. This is exactly whats what the great leader Lenin once said: "Genius is labor. A person's talent is like a spark—it can either be extinguished or ignited, and the only way to make it a blazing fire is through labor, and more labor." Looking back at the past eight years, every achievement I have made has been filled with blood, sweat, and tears. In 1993, Shanghai Oriental Television Network live-streamed the 64th Academy Awards Ceremony, and I and Yuan Ming served as the broadcast hosts. We plunged into the library and database, doing everything we could to gather background information about the Oscars; we borrowed winning-nominated films such as Unforgiven, Scent of a Woman, and High Noon from the audiovisual materials library; we created file cards for several potential winners, including Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, and Catherine Deneuve; and we also collected interesting anecdotes from past award ceremonies, the relationship between China and the Oscars, and other engaging materials. Thanks to this thorough preparation, we were able to perform with ease and liveliness during the live broadcast, avoiding the feeling of being lengthy and dull for the audience. Last year, the special program I hosted, Love Abounds in the World, was even more heart-stirring. The two orphans, Xi Jie and Jiao Wei, from Shanghai's Children's Welfare Institute became the focus of public attention in this program. Doctors from Shanghai Xinhua Hospital performed surgeries on Xi Jie, who had a clubfoot, and Jiao Wei, who had congenital heart disease, while Oriental Television reported the nearly three-hour surgical procedure live—a first in television history. During the live broadcast, the host had to maintain close contact with the operating room doctors to report the progress of the surgery while also opening a donation hotline to receive generous contributions from kind-hearted people. Good viewers from various industrial and public institutions, as well as hundreds of primary and secondary school students, came to the scene to express their deep blessings for the two orphans in various ways. The entire program was complex and disorganized, and it was impossible to rehearse like a regular variety show. Therefore, every segment and structure of the program had to be carefully considered, as any oversight could have irreversible consequences. As a result, the hosts and director visited the hospital multiple times, repeatedly discussed the surgical and live broadcast plans with the doctors, and made necessary preparations for any unexpected situations. Thus, the live broadcast on that day proceeded smoothly and orderly according to the predetermined schedule, to the point that a reporter from Hong Kong's TVB, who was on-site for the interview, thought we had rehearsed at least twice. When they learned that we had done it all in one take, they were amazed: "It's truly unbelievable!"
A book is not enough without practice
Every night, when people turn on the television, they can see various hosts "guiding the world and stirring the words" on the screen, and naturally, they are not spared from the audience's comments and critiques. They might say, "Host X lacks flavor." This "flavor" likely refers to the host's cultural depth. Currently, the performance of program hosts is not entirely satisfactory to the audience, and this "dissatisfaction" stems from some hosts lacking the necessary cultural foundation—they don't read books or newspapers. While they can still rely on experience to show off a little wit or make a few jokes to win cheap laughs during entertaining programs, they struggle when hosting more specialized content. Mr. Kong Xiangdong, a piano player in the U.S., once told me a joke. During an orchestra performance, it is customary for the audience not to applaud between movements, and the host should not interrupt the performance to excessively "show off their personal charm." Once, while playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Minor in a shopping mall, as soon as the first movement ended, a charming host gracefully walked onto the stage and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy the lyrical intermezzo of the second movement." This caused the audience to whisper and the noise to rise. There are also hosts who read the script with numerous mispronunciations, calling "lianjie" (collaborate) "lianjue" (resolve) and "fengliu titaang" (unconventional elegance) "fengliu zhoudang" (unconventional party). It is even laughable when, during the opening performance of the Centennial Celebration of Mei Lanfang and Zhou Xinfang, a host mistakenly called Yuan Shihai's masterpiece Writing a Poem While Holding a Spear "Mei's Spear and Poem," revealing the host's lack of knowledge.
With the rapid development of television culture, its program types are diverse, and the content it spreads is all-encompassing. This requires program hosts to read widely, be knowledgeable, and integrate their understanding. Whether it's politics, history, culture, art, social customs, or astronomy, geography, calligraphy, and painting, they should have a certain level of expertise. In terms of knowledge structure, they should strive for a balance between specialization and breadth, becoming true "jack-of-all-trades." The Han Dynasty thinker Wang Chong said, "When a person learns, they gain power." A cultured and knowledgeable host can win the audience and possess a long artistic vitality, remaining invincible in fierce competition.
We often see outstanding hosts speaking eloquently and confidently in front of the camera, remaining calm under pressure. However, this confidence stems from their rich cultural accumulation, and such accumulation is not achieved overnight. "Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles; without gathering small streams, one cannot form rivers." Therefore, hosts must be mindful and read books and newspapers regularly. Reading nourishes the mind, broadens horizons, and strengthens the driving force of life. Thus, there is a world of difference between hosts who read and those who don't. As Lin Yutang once said, "A person who does not cultivate the habit of reading is confined by time and space. But when they pick up a good book, they immediately enter a different world and meet a talkative person. This speaker guides them forward, takes them to a different country or era, or tells them about knowledge or life issues they have never encountered before."
Words must shock to the core
The ancients said, "A book is the heart's painting, and words are the heart's voice." Language is the most direct expression of human thought, and television, as a mass communication medium, cannot do without this fundamental element. A good program host is often skilled at fully showcasing the charm of language. Therefore, the art of hosting is, after all, a language art. In front of the camera, hosts should discard all pretense, obscurity, verbose language, and artificiality; they should strive for accuracy, conciseness, fluency, liveliness, and colloquialism, while using the external forms of language—such as the speed of speech, the rise and fall of tone, and the strength of the voice—to convey their thoughts and emotions, making the rhythm clear and harmonious, bringing the audience aesthetic pleasure. However, a host's language is not static; it must pulse with the times, and its style must vary depending on the type of program.