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Answer: We believe the sentence is best completed this way:

“The biographical speech on child abuse was quietly delivered and, in the awkward silence that followed, the listeners mutely shouted their shared outrage.”

The subject of the sentence is the almost unspeakable act of child abuse, especially parental child abuse. The sentence is couched in terms of a long-suffering victim revealing the layers of anguish one painful slice at a time. The response of the audience was uncomfortable and disquieting silence. In saying “listeners mutely shouted their shared outrage,” the writer indicates their actions spoke at least as loud as words. They demonstrated a state of mind somewhere between deep embarrassment and seething anger. Academic writers should not be afraid to turn word usage upside down if it conveys a thought better than it would right side up.
本句主題為令人髮指的虐兒事件，特別是父母虐待兒女的事件。句子描述長期受虐的當事人緩緩道出一件件令人痛苦不堪的往事。聽眾坐立不安，陷入一片尷尬的沉默。句子描述 “listeners mutely shouted their shared outrage”（聽眾無聲地吶喊出共同的憤怒），可見行為能表達的意涵不下於言語，傳達出聽眾介於極為困窘與深惡痛絕的心境。寫作學術文章時，若轉變詞彙的用法，能更貼切傳達訊息，就無需猶豫，可以放心使用。