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【阅读理解】Reading: The River Doesn't Care
On the night of 3 October, rain fell without pause from dusk onward.
At 11:40 p.m., a sensor on the eastern edge of the lower basin stopped sending data.
Li Wan drove to the site and discovered that a collapsed wall had blocked the channel.
Behind the wall, a fake drainage pipe had been installed to divert water toward the market district.
She recognised the contractor's identification tag on the pipe.
The contractor was a wealthy candidate for the county council who had once been censured for contaminating a reservoir.
Li Wan photographed everything and at 12:55 a.m. sent the images to the provincial bureau.
Their reply was opaque: 'Await further instruction.'
She did not wait.
At 1:20 a.m. she called the local radio station and, in a voice that quivered, read out six street names and a simple instruction: leave now.
Some 4,000 people walked out of the lower town within the hour.
The water arrived at 3:10 a.m., reaching 5.2 metres.
Two elderly residents refused to leave; one died.
The wall collapsed; 180 homes were disfigured by mud.
The contractor was convicted, fined, and sentenced to seven years.
Li Wan was not celebrated.
She was suspended for breaching protocol, then reinstated after a public petition.
Her salary was docked by 12 per cent.
Zhou Ke resigned and became a teacher.
Two years later, on a bright, dry afternoon, Li Wan stood at the rebuilt embankment and watched a class of schoolchildren throw paper boats into the current.
A new sensor station stood beside her, humming.
Its signal was accurate to three centimetres.
The official flood map now curved where the river curved, and the old straight line had been discarded.
Zhou Ke, who had come to visit, asked whether she felt vindicated.
She frowned at the water.
'The river doesn't care about being right,' she said.
A child's boat spun once, then vanished beneath the surface.
She kept watching the spot where it had gone down, as if waiting for it to come back up.
Questions
1. What did Li Wan discover when she arrived at the sensor site on the night of 3 October?
A. A group of residents had gathered to repair the wall. B. A collapsed wall and a fake drainage pipe blocked the channel. C. The sensor had been removed by the provincial bureau. D. The contractor was already there, waiting to meet her.
2. Which word in the passage is closest in meaning to 'opaque' as used in 'Their reply was opaque'?
A. Clear B. Angry C. Unclear D. Immediate
3. What can be inferred about Li Wan's personal history from the passage?
A. Her father was a ferry pilot who drowned in 1998. B. She had worked at the local radio station before joining the bureau. C. She grew up in the market district that was flooded. D. She was once a student of the contractor who was convicted.
4. What happened to Li Wan after the flood?
A. She was suspended, then reinstated, and her salary was docked by 12 per cent. B. She was promoted for her brave actions. C. She resigned and became a teacher. D. She was fined and sentenced to seven years.
5. Which of the following best describes the main idea of the passage?
A. The tragic death of two elderly residents who refused to evacuate. B. The importance of sensor technology in modern flood warnings. C. A hydrologist's stubborn pursuit of truth about a river, despite official resistance. D. How a wealthy contractor corrupted a county council election.