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【阅读理解】Reading: The Silence Before the Fall
Mei had been 19 when the provincial sports bureau first noticed her balance on a beam.
By 2023 she was a national champion in rope acrobatics, a sport with a tiny audience but a surprisingly substantial budget: 8 million yuan a year for a troupe of 34 athletes.
The money came from a smart helmet manufacturer and a legacy airline.
In return, Mei and her companions wore logos on their sleeves and appeared at 15 promotional events a year.
The internal code of the team was simple — no complaints, no deviation.
"We are not artists," Zhao would declare.
"We are a service."
The training was brutal by design, an ambitious programme that combined aerobics, gymnastics and something close to torture.
Mei had signed the registration form at 17 without reading the last page.
Her mother, a seamstress, had cried.
Her father, a bus driver with bronchitis, had said nothing at all.
The turn came in April 2024, at an international festival in Chongqing.
Mei was to perform a simultaneous crossing with two other athletes.
The referee, a German woman named Klara, noted a problem with the rigging: the main cable had a seam where two sections met, and the splint holding them had corroded.
Klara flagged it.
Zhao dismissed her concern as anecdotal.
"We have done this 60 times," he said.
"Theoretical risk is not actual risk."
Mei overheard.
She said nothing.
That silence, she would later say, was the beginning of her exile from the sport.
The performance went ahead.
12,000 people watched.
The score was 9.4.
The crowd roared.
And on the way down, the cable slipped 8 centimetres inside its mould, and the clip on Mei's harness failed to activate.
She fell.
Not far — the secondary line caught her after 3 metres.
But the jerk dislodged a vertebra and tore a ligament in her right knee.
The ambulance took 22 minutes.
The hospital bill reached 47,000 yuan, of which the team covered 60 percent.
The rest came from her parents' savings.
For six weeks she could not walk without a splint.
Zhao visited once, bringing fruit and a contract extension.
"You will heal," he said.
"You are young."
Mei looked at the ceiling and counted the stripes.
She felt no gratitude.
She felt a damp, uneasy anger that she could not formulate into words.
The team's insurance, she discovered, excluded injuries sustained during 'non-sanctioned modifications' — a clause so ambiguous that three lawyers she consulted refused to take the case.
What followed was not a campaign.
It was a slow, greasy grind.
Mei sought treatment in a public hospital where the doctor, a young man named Liu, diagnosed her with early arthritis.
He showed her the X-ray.
"This is what overwork looks like at 21," he said.
She began to collect evidence: 14 photographs, 6 voice recordings, 2 internal emails that mentioned the corroded splint.
She found a journalist willing to listen, a woman from a small online outlet.
The story ran in November 2024.
It received 2.3 million views in four days.
The manufacturer issued a statement denying negligence.
The airline withdrew its sponsorship within a week.
The troupe lost 40 percent of its funding and 11 athletes were laid off.
Zhao resigned.
In a final message to Mei, he wrote: "You have destroyed something you did not build."
Mei did not feel like a victor.
The following spring she enrolled in a diploma course in sports rehabilitation, commuting 90 minutes each way by bus.
Her knee still ached in damp weather.
She could not run, could not pedal a bike for more than 10 minutes.
Occasionally she dreamed of the gorge and woke with her hands gripping the sheet.
In June 2025 she attended a hearing at the provincial sports federation, where a panel of 5 officials discussed new safety rules.
She was asked to speak.
She stood, and for 40 seconds said nothing.
Then: "I only want one thing.
A referee who is not paid by the same people w
Questions
1. What was the main source of funding for Mei's rope acrobatics troupe?
A. The provincial sports bureau and ticket sales. B. The national government and a German festival. C. A smart helmet manufacturer and a legacy airline. D. A small online outlet and public donations.
2. Why did Klara flag a problem with the rigging before the performance?
A. The main cable was too short for the crossing. B. The clip on Mei's harness was already broken. C. The splint holding the cable sections had corroded. D. The secondary line was not attached at all.
3. What does the word "anecdotal" most likely mean in the passage?
A. Based on personal accounts rather than reliable evidence. B. Supported by official safety inspections. C. Related to international festival regulations. D. Proven by repeated successful performances.
4. What can be inferred about Zhao's attitude toward the safety concern?
A. He had already arranged for the cable to be repaired secretly. B. He trusted Klara's judgment but had no power to stop the show. C. He wanted to cancel the performance but was overruled by the team. D. He believed the risk was too small to justify changing the plan.
5. Which title best captures the main idea of the passage?
A. Sponsorship and Sport: A Successful Partnership B. The History of Rope Acrobatics in Chongqing C. The Price of Silence: One Athlete's Fight for Safety D. A Champion's Rise: How Mei Won National Gold