3月22日，湖南卫视召开新闻发布会，宣布由“超级男声”改名为“快乐男声”的年度选秀节目正式启动。“快乐男声”设有长沙、南京、济南、成都、广州五大唱区，以及北京、西安和沈阳三个报名点。此外，湖南卫视首次设立了网络海选，参赛选手可通过视频上传至相关网站参赛。

Producers of the televised competition Thursday announced the launch of the upcoming season, and it will be an all-male affair with contestants vying for the title "Happy Boy."

The wildly popular Chinese version of the "American Idol" song contest has secured approval for a 2007 season, state media reported Wednesday.

Producers of the televised competition Thursday announced the launch of the upcoming season, and it will be an all-male affair with contestants vying for the title "Happy Boy," the Beijing Times newspaper reported.

Last year's contest was an all-female version under the title "Super Girl," but state regulators only granted approval for this year after insisting that producers avoid the name "Super Boy," the paper added, citing show officials.

The show was hatched in 2004 by Hunan Satellite Television in central China and has proved an absolute phenomenon.

While China has several pop idol-style shows, "Super Girls" is the leader, with the 2006 final attracting an extraordinary audience figure of 400 million viewers, just under a third of China's population.

Producers this year plan towhittle downthe number of contestants -- more than 100,000 entered last year -- with anInternet audition systemaimed also at preventing a crush of applicants from besieging production sites.

Internet applicants must have online access and will be required to send in a 60-second video clip in which they sing unaccompanied.

（Agency） 

Vocabulary:    

whittle down: 削减

Internet audition system:网络海选制度

（英语点津陈蓓编辑）