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【阅读理解】Reading: The Ferryman's Last Crossing
Chen Wei was fifty-four years old and had spent twenty-seven years ferrying people across the strait.
He often said his job was mostly a conversation with the weather, and he could quote wind speeds from memory and read storms in the colour of the water.
But in March 2019, a doctor at the regional general hospital told him his immune system had begun to attack his own cells.
The doctor said he had maybe fourteen months of adequate mobility, possibly twenty.
Chen laughed, thinking it was a joke, but it was not.
He kept working and in 2020 joined a clinical trial for a drug that cost 41,000 yuan per month, partly covered by a charity.
The side effects were severe: his hands would shake, and his thinking would become confused at dusk.
His wife, Liu Min, a retired teacher, warned him that he could not pilot a ferry in that condition and that he would kill someone.
He ignored her, saying he owed the strait something, as he had carried 1.2 million passengers, including brides, corpses, immigrants, and members of parliament.
By 2021, the disease had worsened, and he could no longer complete the 6.4-kilometre route without a nap.
He hired a young mate, Zhou Kai, twenty-four, who was skilled with engines but unsure around people.
One morning, Zhou said the passengers deserved a captain who could stand, but Chen replied they deserved a captain who knew the water.
However, his percentage of safe crossings had fallen from 99.8 to 94.1, and the port authority sent a letter: his licence would be suspended unless he passed a physical.
His status, once privileged, was now a liability.
So he trained Zhou for six months, sitting beside him, pointing at currents, and naming every rock.
He warned Zhou to beware the third buoy, which he said lied, and taught him to harness the tide, read the facade of the sky, and feel the boat's motion before the boat felt it.
Zhou learned, and in June 2022, Chen passed the wheel for the last time.
He stood on the pier and watched the ferry pull away, the engine's sound familiar, then faint, then gone.
He did not cry but took a photograph with his phone, saying it was for the journal.
An hour later, Liu Min found him there and said, 'You are not the ferry. You are a man.'
He nodded and said, 'A man with a deficiency, a man who cannot conduct his own body.'
She took his hand, and they walked to the car.
The tide was coming in, and somewhere across the water, a girl—maybe the same girl—was taking pictures of a sunrise she would never sell.
Chen wondered if she had ever crossed, if she knew what it cost, and briefly whether the strait would remember him at all.
Then he got into the car, and Liu Min drove him home.
Questions
1. What was Chen Wei's job before his illness?
A. He was a ferry captain. B. He was a teacher. C. He was a doctor. D. He was a photographer.
2. How many years did Chen Wei work as a ferryman?
A. 14 years. B. 27 years. C. 20 years. D. 54 years.
3. What does the word 'liaison' most likely mean in the passage?
A. A type of boat. B. A person who helps others. C. A communication or connection. D. A medical condition.
4. Why did Chen Wei continue working despite his illness?
A. He wanted to train Zhou Kai. B. He needed the money for treatment. C. His wife encouraged him to work. D. He felt a sense of duty to the strait.
5. What is the best title for this passage?
A. The Dangers of the Sea B. The Life of a Retired Teacher C. The Challenges of Modern Medicine D. A Ferryman's Final Voyage