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【阅读理解】Reading: The Barley Station
Lena Orlova woke at 04:12 to the alarm and did not hesitate.
She had rehearsed this moment for 18 months, since the arable station lost its last three workers to the city.
Outside, the wind was hauling dust across the crater field, and the thermometer read minus 41.
The station's only reliable crop, a brittle barley variant, produced 2.3 tonnes per hectare, barely enough for 60 residents.
Every item on the shelf required a decision, and every decision required her judgment.
Her counterpart was Dmitri Vale, a 34-year-old engineer who had once worked on submarine defence systems.
He arrived in 2039 with a blueprint for an ultraclean greenhouse and a dissertation on convection.
He had the modish habit of quoting his own reports, yet his hands were practical.
Between 2039 and 2041, the pair assembled 14 modular beds, each one situated under a translucent dome.
The yield rose by 27 percent, and poverty in the settlement fell.
Then the emissions came from the mining empire 200 kilometres north, where shareholders had adopted a casual attitude toward waste.
The plume carried a nasty mix of sulphur and fine debris, and the barley began to distort.
Dmitri proposed an exhaustive survey, while Lena wanted to flee.
She wrestled with the numbers for a week, but the crop loss reached 44 percent.
A reservation order arrived from headquarters: reduce consumption or cancel the centennial celebration.
The following spring, a detective from the capital arrived to assess the embezzlement of relief funds.
His name was Anton Reyes, 51, a former crime reporter with an inductive mind and a thoughtful manner.
He asked Lena one question: 'Who benefits?' The answer pointed to a rival contractor who had bribed two council members.
The scandal made the news for nine days, but it did not bring back the harvest.
Lena began to seclude herself in the seed vault, where the air was cold and the silence was complete.
'This is not an adventure,' she wrote in her journal. 'This is an inheritance I did not choose.'
By 2043, the population had dropped to 31, and the remaining dwellers learned to exchange labour for food.
Dmitri designed a low-cost filtration unit using crushed volcanic rock, which removed 91 percent of the contaminants.
Lena adopted his blueprint and revised it, and the two worked in the greenhouse until midnight.
The barley, stubborn and malleable, began to return, but it was not an inspiring recovery.
What remained was a strange kind of esteem, and the station no longer aimed to dominate the market.
Lena started baking bread on Sundays, using a recipe her grandmother had written on the back of a rental agreement.
'I used to think progress was a straight line,' Dmitri said one evening. 'Now I think it is a circle.'
The last supply transport left on a Tuesday, and Lena watched the vehicle shrink into the dust.
She had 14 jars of seed, 3 kilograms of flour, and a letter from Anton saying the council members had been fined but not jailed.
She turned back toward the greenhouse, where a single lamp was burning and the barley was green.
Questions
1. What was the barley yield per hectare before the emissions came?
A. 2.3 tonnes B. 1.8 tonnes C. 3.0 tonnes D. 2.7 tonnes
2. What does the word 'malleable' in the passage most likely mean?
A. Easily broken B. Easily burned C. Easily shaped D. Easily frozen
3. Which detail shows Dmitri's practical skills?
A. He quoted his own reports. B. He solved a frozen valve in four minutes. C. He arrived in 2039 with a blueprint. D. He had a dissertation on convection.
4. Why did the detective Anton Reyes come to the station?
A. To negotiate with the mining empire. B. To investigate the crop loss. C. To help design a filtration unit. D. To assess the embezzlement of relief funds.
5. What is the main theme of the passage?
A. The importance of celebrating centennials. B. The benefits of advanced technology in agriculture. C. The struggle for survival and adaptation in an isolated settlement. D. The conflict between engineers and detectives.