阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项 （A 、B 、C  和 D ）中，选出最佳选项。

    In 1841, a book was published which astonished the world. It was called “Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan”. The author John Loud Stephens had just returned from a long, difficult and dangerous journey through the thick rain forest of southern Mexico and Guatemala. He had once been there with Frederick Catherwood, an architect and artist, to search for the remains of a lost civilization known as the Mayas(玛雅). Very little was known about the Mayas at that time, but Catherwood's drawing in the book showed incredible cities with temples, pyramids and other buildings as impressive as those of their northern neighbors, the Aztecs. These cities, however, were deserted. The inhabitants(居民) had disappeared almost a thousand years before.

    Since that time, far more has been learned about this remarkable civilization. The Mayas had a highly-developed system of government and of agriculture, as well as an incredibly accurate system of measuring time. They were also wonderful engineers capable of moving huge blocks stone long distances and cutting them to accurate shapes and sizes.

    And yet although the Mayas knew about the wheel, they never used it. Neither did they use metals other than copper. What is ever more surprising is that they suddenly abandoned many of their cities and built new ones in the jungle. Some time around AD 900, Mayan civilization collapsed(崩溃). By the year 1200, their last great capital, Chichen Itza, was deserted.

    Who were these strange people and the even stranger gods they worshipped? What brought about their sudden and mysterious collapse? Some writers have tried to prove that the Mayas had contact with visitors from space and even that they themselves came from another planet. Some people believe that their civilization came to an end because the Mayas never developed a proper resistance to local germs and diseases. All we really know is that when the first Europeans appeared off their coast in 1517, this great and mysterious culture was only a memory.

莫扎特的造访

    ①我家的音响中正播放着莫扎特的《F大调第一钢琴协奏曲》。妻子在读一本画报，儿子在做功课，我们三个人都可以在音乐的伴奏下各自做自己的事情。

    ②我曾经告诉儿子，莫扎特写这部作品的时候还不到10岁，儿子睁大了眼睛，惊奇地问：“真的？他是天才？…‘是的，是天才，他是上帝派到人间传播美妙音乐的天才。”我这样回答儿子。

    ③10岁的莫扎特，心里没有任何阴霾，没有忧伤和恐惧，只有对未来的幻想和憧憬。一切都明丽而鲜亮。莫扎特把童年时代的梦幻都倾吐在他的音乐中了。我喜欢这样的音乐在我周围幽幽地回荡。从钢琴上蹦跳出的音符，轻盈而圆润，犹如一滴滴晶莹剔透的雨珠，从冥冥的天空中落下来，在宁静的空气中闪烁飘荡。你看不见它们，接不住它们，却真切而优美地感觉到它们的存在，感觉到它们在轻轻地拨动你的心弦。它们滴落在任何地方，都会反弹出清幽脆亮的回声。闭上眼睛，你仿佛看到小小的蝴蝶扇动着它们的彩色翅膀，从这片草叶上，飞到那片草叶上，终于在一朵金黄色的小花上停下来，微微喘息着，让湿润的风吹拂那对美丽的翅膀……

    ④我问儿子，在莫扎特第一钢琴协奏曲的旋律中看到了什么。儿子说：“我看见一个金头发的孩子在弹琴。他坐在花园里，身边有很大的喷泉，喷出银色的水花，漫天飞舞。”妻子说：“我看见一条小溪在绿色的山坡上流淌，小溪里都是五彩的石头。”儿子又说：“有喷泉，也有小溪，还有春天下雨时在树林里听到的声音。”

    ⑤我告诉儿子，莫扎特离开人世时，两袖清风，一无所有，他甚至没有能力给自己买一口棺材。在风雪中，他被不认识的人埋葬在谁也不知道的地方。人们甚至无法在他的墓地上献上一朵小花。

    ⑥“他为什么那么穷？”儿子的目光里饱含着困惑和不平。

    ⑦“因为那时音乐不值钱。”我的回答无奈而黯然。

    ⑧___钱算什么___儿子突然喊道___钱会烂掉___音乐却活在人的心里___我和妻子相视一笑。

    ⑨在音乐的流水声中，我们狭小的屋子变得无比宽阔，所有的墙壁都消失了，可以看到最遥远的风景。莫扎特像一个目光平和的天使，在我们的前方翩翩地飘行。我们幻想中所有美丽的地方，他都能引导我们抵达……

    ⑩莫扎特，谢谢你的造访。