单选题 The spelling of many Old English words has been ______ in the living language, although their pronunciations have changed.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 各选项的意思是：preserved保留，留存；preempted先占，取代；revised修订，修改；improved改善，提高。根据句意可知，答案是A。