High 2 · Reading series
Lesson 9 · A Witness with a Different View
Audio track 09
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
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Two people described the same power failure at our town festival. One said the stage lights went out before the music stopped. The other remembered the music stopping first. Our newspaper team wanted to choose the more confident witness and move on.
Instead, we asked where each person had stood. The first was beside the stage and could see the lights clearly. The second had been near a food stall, where a loud generator continued for several seconds. Their memories reflected different positions and sounds.
A technician later showed us a time record from the equipment. It answered some questions but not every detail of what visitors had experienced. We wrote an article that included the record and both accounts, explaining their limits.
Conflicting memories do not automatically mean that someone is dishonest. They can show how an event changes when viewed from another place. The careful question is not simply, “Who is right?” It is, “What could each person actually observe?”
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
小镇节庆发生停电，两个人对经过的描述不同。一人说舞台灯先灭，音乐后停；另一人记得音乐先停。校报记者原想选更有把握的目击者，赶紧往下写。
后来，我们先问两人当时站在哪里。第一人在舞台旁，能清楚看见灯光；第二人在食品摊附近，那里的发电机又响了好几秒。他们的记忆反映了不同的位置与声音。
一位技术人员随后拿来设备的时间记录。它回答了部分问题，却无法说尽访客当时感受到的每个细节。我们写报道时，同时列出记录和两人的证言，并说明各自的局限。
记忆冲突不自动意味着有人不诚实，也可能表明同一事件从不同地点看会有不同样貌。需要认真追问的，不仅是‘谁对’，还有‘每个人实际上能观察到什么’。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- power failure
- 停电；节庆上的突发事件。
- witness
- 目击者；两人说法不同。
- confident
- 有把握的；不能只选语气自信者。
- generator
- 发电机；附近的声音仍持续。
- reflected
- 反映；回忆与位置有关。
- technician
- 技术人员；提供设备时间记录。
- equipment
- 设备；记录只能回答部分问题。
- accounts
- 证言；两人的现场叙述。
- conflicting
- 相互冲突的；记忆不一致。
- observe
- 观察；每个人能感知的范围不同。
Background notes (Chinese)
观察位置会影响人看到和听到的先后。设备记录有助于核实时间，却不能替代所有人的现场体验；报道保留不同证言及其局限。