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【完形填空】Cloze: A Voice in the Valley
Zhou Kai, a young technician from Kunming, arrived in Shaxi with a simple recording kit. His task was to (1) the local Bai dialect before it disappeared.
The grant of 240,000 yuan was part of a provincial (2) to archive languages. But the work was harder than he had expected.
Many older residents were unwilling to talk. Some refused outright; one even (3) the door and called him a pirate. They thought he wanted to steal something.
Yang Lianzhen, 78, was his fourth attempt that week. At first she held the microphone (4) , as if it were poisonous. But Zhou's patience slowly won her over.
Instead of asking for words, Zhou asked her to (5) memories: how to make fermented tea, a landslide that damaged three houses, a payment of 12 coins for salt.
As she spoke, the words came in a (6) , a flood of syllables that filled the silent room. Zhou recorded for 94 minutes.
He later wondered whether she was still fluent or simply (7) a script. 'There is a definite difference,' he said, 'between a language you use and a language you perform.'
On the third day, Yang used a word for 'fragile' that Zhou could not find in any dictionary. When he asked her to repeat it, she (8) . 'You will write it down wrong,' she said, 'and then it will be wrong forever.'
Zhou realised that her refusal was not (9) ; it was a form of protection. To her, the language was not a resource but a relative, elderly and stubborn.
On the final morning, he found her burning old letters in the yard. She refused to let him photograph one. 'You have enough,' she said. 'The rest is (10) .'
Zhou packed his equipment and drove away. The valley behind him was quiet, and the microphone lay in its case like a sealed jar, holding 94 minutes of a voice that would not outlive the woman who owned it.
Choices
(1) A. invent B. document C. ignore D. teach
(2) A. tradition B. initiative C. objection D. competition
(3) A. fixed B. opened C. slammed D. painted
(4) A. in person B. at arm's length C. by heart D. on purpose
(5) A. recall B. forget C. invent D. deny
(6) A. torrent B. silence C. whisper D. trickle
(7) A. writing B. reading C. rehearsing D. translating
(8) A. refused B. agreed C. hesitated D. repeated
(9) A. helpful B. hostile C. polite D. friendly
(10) A. hers B. yours C. mine D. his