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【完形填空】Cloze: The Gardener of Questions
Eli was a corporal in nobody's army. He lived alone in a habitable valley where the border between forest and farm was always (1). His contemporaries called him odd. He did not mind. He had a theory, and it would not let him rest.
On Monday, he began digging. The soil was primitive and full of stuff no one could (2). He had to excavate carefully. A tiny iris grew near the fence. He did not want to victimise it. Beneath the ground, he hoped to find the core of an old idea. "Every plant is sentient in its own way," he said. "We just (3) the ability to notice." He had no warrant for this claim. But it was a promising basis.
He planted three seeds. He gave them water, not too much. He did not (4) to chemicals. He wanted to ascertain whether a molecule could carry memory. The work was tedious. Yet a spontaneous joy would germinate in him each morning. He felt a strange impetus to continue. His neighbour, Mara, watched from her window. She was skeptical. "You rely on imagination, not evidence," she said. "That interpretation will (5) you astray." Eli smiled. He was conscious of his own limits. Still, he could not forfeit this chance.
A month passed. One seed failed. One grew into a typical weed. The third, however, did something conspicuous. Its leaves turned toward the sun with an almost conscious flexibility. The change was (6). It seemed to mimic an animal. Eli called Mara. She came, reluctantly. "This is not a substitution for real science," she said. "But I admit it is distinct. I cannot elucidate it." She paused. "You have (7) something odd here."
Then came the turn. A storm rolled in. It was a major, world-wide weather event. Rain churned the soil. The plant was torn apart. Eli was desperate. He knelt in the mud. He did not weep. He simply said, "The experiment is over." But the next spring, small shoots appeared. Not one. Not two. They had (8). The plant had survived. It had integrated itself into the ecological sphere. The old man was triumphant. "So," he said, "what is essential is not the result. It is the question we keep asking."
He did not become (9). He did not achieve notoriety. But his small discovery had a lasting effect. Students came to study the soil. They tried to distill its secrets. They asked him for advice. "Be patient," he told them. "And be careful with your definition of intelligence." The valley stayed quiet. The forest and the farm still blurred at the edge. Eli kept digging until the end. He never finished the work. That, he said, was the (10).
Choices
(1) A. clear B. vague C. sharp D. distinct
(2) A. label B. name C. call D. term
(3) A. miss B. lack C. want D. need
(4) A. apply B. resort C. turn D. refer
(5) A. lead B. take C. guide D. bring
(6) A. obvious B. evident C. noticeable D. apparent
(7) A. contrived B. devised C. invented D. created
(8) A. doubled B. tripled C. multiplied D. increased
(9) A. renowned B. eminent C. celebrated D. famous
(10) A. purpose B. aim C. point D. goal