Final answer:
The quotation from Du Fu's poem, stating “My country's broken, though the hills and rivers remain,” best supports the claim that villagers are unaffected by distant political events.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best quotation that supports the interpretive response claiming that “although the villagers have no power of their own, events in the faraway capital have little effect on them” is the poem by Du Fu, which states: “My country's broken, though the hills and rivers remain.” This line reflects the enduring stability of the natural landscape despite the political turmoil occurring elsewhere, suggesting that the lives of villagers, who are closer to the hills and rivers than to the centers of power, continue with little change.
The quotations provided from other texts do not relate as clearly to the concept of remote events having little impact on the local populace. The poem captures this idea concisely and aptly with its vivid contrast between the broken country and the unchanged natural scenery, highlighting both the villagers' lack of political power and their potential isolation from events in the capital.