People who have lost the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage are called aphasics(失语症患者). Such patients can be extremely good at something else. From the changing expressions on speakers' faces and the tones of their voices, they can tell lies from truths.
Doctors studying the human brain have given a number of examples of this amazing power of aphasics. Some have even compared this power to that of a dog with an ability to find out the drugs hidden in the baggage.
Recently, scientists carried out tests to see if all that was said about aphasics was true. They studied a mixed group of people. Some were normal; others were aphasics. It was proved that the aphasics were far ahead of the normal people in recognizing false speeches -- in most cases, the normal people were fooled by words, but the aphasics were not.
Some years ago, Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote in his book about his experiences with aphasics. He mentioned a particular case in a hospital. Some aphasics were watching the president giving a speech on TV. Since the president had been an actor earlier, making a good speech was no problem for him. He was trying to put his feelings into every word of his speech.
But his way of speaking had the opposite effect on the patients. They didn't seem to believe him. Instead, they burst into laughter. The aphasics knew that the president did not mean a word of what he was saying. He was lying!
Many doctors see aphasics as people who are not completely normal because they lack the ability to understand words. However, according to Dr. Sacks, they are more gifted than normal people. Normal people may get carried away by words. Aphasics seem to understand human expressions better, though they cannot understand words.
【小题1】What is so surprising about aphasics?

English was always my favorite subject. In my freshman year of high school, I could write a killer composition. In my junior year, my   1  allowed me to give spelling tests to the class. I had wonderful   2  of this year. Mrs. Alexander   3  me to sit at her desk and take over the class when she had to leave the room. Only my senior English class was   4 , as we had a teacher right out of college who expected college-level work. Every student received a “C” or “D” grade the first quarter.   5  English was still my subject.
I graduated from high school,  6  early and had children.   7  about my English, I often helped my kids with their English homework. And I   8  long articles and beautiful poetry for a newspaper. Fifteen years later, I went to college, and because I had been an “A” student, I   9  an “A” student. I lived up to my own expectations.
Yesterday, I   10  my high school report cards when I was reading old papers. That bundle (捆) of report cards   11  back the old days. I remembered sitting in my advisor’s office, explaining that I had always been excellent at English and complaining that I did not   12  a “D” from that inexperienced teacher of my senior year. The advisor was   13  but unable to change a grade.
My old   14  cards showed something else too. I wanted to tear them up or   15  them. I was not an “A” student in high school English! Somehow, I had convinced myself of this, when the grades clearly reflected an   16  student with an occasional “A” or “B”, but mostly “C”s.
Had I lived up to those   17  and define (定义) myself according to those letters, I would have never confidently   18  my writing career. Had I believed in my early grades instead of myself, I would have allowed my fear of   19  to defeat my enthusiasm and damage my creativity.   20 , I regarded my younger self as an “A” English student, except for that undeserved “D”.

I have had the privilege of meeting some very interesting people over the years. Some of these people made a great impact on my life, my views and personal philosophy. Others I met had the opposite effect because they represented attitudes, behavior and beliefs that were directly opposed to my views on life and my feelings about the value of all people.
One such person I met was a woman in her late seventies. She had been an active woman, raised a family and had engaged in helping others, and developed her own crafts to sell at selected craft shows throughout the year.
When I met her for the first time, I couldn’t believe that she was in her late seventies — I would have placed her age more in her early sixties. After speaking with her for a short period, it was only then that the conversation seemed to turn to age. And, it wasn’t a conversation about the frailty (脆弱) of age, or the aches and pains, or about pleasures lost.
The conversation, instead, focused on her zest for life and all the things that she was in the planning stages of doing. And, what she was planning to do wasn’t about going to a seniors group so she and her husband could go on a bus tour. What she was planning was an excursion (旅行) to Europe, unaccompanied by any tour operator or taken around the usual sights by a local guide.
She really impressed me a lot because of her zest for life; for an uncompromising view of the future not in the least affected by her age; for the undying faith in knowing that there was a great deal of life yet to be discovered and experienced and yearning for each new image, discussion, smell, cultural uniqueness or experience.
【小题1】From the text we know_____________.

Even at school there had been an unhealthy competition between George and Richard.

“I’ll be the first millionaire in Coleford!” Richard used to boast(自吹自擂).

“And you’ll be sorry you knew me,” George would reply “because I’ll be the best lawyer in town!”

George never did become a lawyer and Richard never made any money. Instead both men opened bookshops on opposite sides of Coleford High Street. It was hard to make money from books, which made the competition between them worse.

Then Richard married a mysterious girl. The couple spent their honeymoon on the coast—but Richard never came back. The police found his wallet on a deserted beach but the body was never found. He must have drowned.

Now with only one bookshop in town, business was better for George. But sometimes he sat in his narrow, old kitchen and gazed out of the dirty window, thinking about his former rival(竞争对手). Perhaps he missed him?

George was very interested in old dictionaries. He’d recently found a collector in Australia who was selling a rare first edition. When the parcel(包裹) arrived, the book was in perfect condition and George was delighted. But while he was having lunch, George glanced at the photo in the newspaper that the book had been wrapped in. He was astonished—the smiling face was older than he remembered but unmistakable! Trembling, George started reading.

“Bookends have bought ten bookstores from their rivals Dylans. The company, owned by multi-millionaire Richard Pike, is now the largest bookseller in Australia.”

1.George and Richard were ________ at school.

2. How did George feel about Richard after his disappearance?

3. George got information about Richard from ________.

4.What happened to George and Richard in the end?

I love it at night. It’s peaceful. And when it cools down I sometimes do some ironing. I don’t really care for it. I work full-time and am too busy for most housework. I remember the old woman who taught me to iron(熨烫). I was about 15 and somehow got a live-in job taking care of a woman who had been an able-bodied, healthy woman until the accident that caused her to be paralyzed.
The woman had an electric wheelchair. She could move her head and arms but not her hands or fingers. She had this clamp（夹子）attached to her arm and I’d have to open it and put a cup or a pencil in it and then she could move it. She would tell me how to do things. She would instruct me in great detail on the correct way to do things. Her home was perfect and beautiful. She would follow me around in her electric wheelchair to make sure I did everything exactly right. I’m sure she had been a perfect homemaker. She would have me fold everything, including socks and pillow cases. I would complain silently and wish terrible things on her. She taught me the right way to make the bed and tuck the corners. I know sometimes she’d get frustrated and impatient with me. I knew she wanted to grab it and do it herself. But she never yelled or scolded. Only she insisted I do it right. I didn’t like it much, but I did it.
Today I can iron pretty well. I know where to start on a shirt, the right way to do the collar and sleeves. Now that I think about it, I don’t think she is an old lady. I think she might have been about my age now. Anyway, when I iron, I think of her and silently thank her for all the things I learned.
【小题1】From the passage we can infer that the writer of the passage now is ________.