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【阅读理解】Reading: The Silent Performer Who Reached a Whole District
Nadia was a mime who performed only on street corners, and her facial control could hold a crowd of strangers still.
She had no interest in feminism or politics; her art was silent, and she preferred it that way.
Then a local survey of cultural life in the old quarter arrived, and its findings were harsh.
Only one in five respondents had seen a live performance that year, and the main reason was distance.
The nearest theatre was four kilometres away, and for anyone with a handicapped leg or without a car, that gap was enough to deter them.
An official told her, "You cannot prohibit art by law, but you can let a whole district go hungry. So we entangle the money with residency: you must live inside the boundary to be eligible."
Nadia was a constituent of that district and lived in a small flat above a teahouse.
She wanted to extend her practice and deploy her skills in a form that could travel.
She took an antibiotic for an infection that had been afflicting her knee, and then she started to sketch.
Her plan was simple: she would walk the neighbourhood street by street and study how people actually lived.
She wanted to familiarise herself with the diversity of the place—the livestock in one yard, the transplanted trees in another, the burgeon of new shops near the station.
She would orientate her itinerary around what she noticed, then perform each small scene back to the people who had given it to her.
The ultimate aim was not profit but assimilation of art into daily routine.
A young woman who ran a small shop and had patronage from older residents offered to help.
She was supportive but said, "Your idea is preferable to another statue. But you must handle the money issues. I can only contribute time."
So Nadia invested in a secondhand telegraph line and a portable speaker, fusing her old silent style with new techniques.
The combination was odd, but it worked, and her performance gained a new dimension.
She could intensify a mood with a single glance or suppress a laugh with a mime of a bad meal.
By autumn, her project had culminated in a fifteen-minute show that could be executed in any courtyard.
Various neighbours came, and the crowd multiplied; some watched from a shelter by the road, and a few brought children.
The spectacle was small, but it was regular, and the regularity itself became a kind of theatre.
One evening, a man who had lost his sight asked her, "Your show reminds me of something. Not the images. The pauses."
Nadia had always assumed her work was primarily visual, but now she saw that the silence was the real strand.
Her success did not arrive automatically; there were days when the audience was three people and a dog.
But the project grew apace, and other districts began to ask her to come.
She had become a small institution, and the word spread quietly, without a single poster.
In the end, the woman who had refused to speak in public now represented a whole quarter, and she had found a way to make her art accessible, which was enough.
Questions
1. What was the main reason given by the survey for residents not seeing live performances?
A. The ticket prices were too high. B. There were no performances in the old quarter. C. The distance to the nearest theatre was too great. D. The residents had no interest in culture.
2. What does the word 'deter' in the passage most nearly mean?
A. encourage B. delay C. discourage D. distract
3. What can be inferred about Nadia's attitude towards her art before the survey?
A. She wanted to use it for political change. B. She was content with performing only on street corners. C. She thought silence was unimportant. D. She was planning to open a theatre.
4. What was the young woman's role in Nadia's project?
A. She wrote posters for the performances. B. She provided financial support. C. She offered time and support but not money. D. She performed alongside Nadia.
5. Which of the following best serves as a title for the passage?
A. The Decline of Street Performance B. How to Run a Small Business C. The Power of Political Art D. A Mime's Silent Journey to Community