Read the article. Seven sentences have been removed from the text. Choose from the sentences A – H the one which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
Switch Off Your Mind and Become a Genius
Doctor: Do you know how much 312 times 123 is?
Ray (without hesitation): 38,376.
Charlie (doing the sum on a calculator): He’s right.
Doctor: What?
Charlie: He’s right!
Doctor: He’s right!
Charlie: Yes. Ray, how much is 4,343 times 1,234?
Ray (without hesitation): 5,359,262.
Charlie: He’s a genius!
These lines are from a film called Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Charlie Babbitt’s brother, Ray, lives in a home because he is unable to work or look after himself. пустоB For example, he can perform very complex mental arithmetic with
astonishing speed and accuracy. Ray is a ‘savant’: somebody who has specific, extraordinary abilities, but who is incapable of most everyday tasks.
Ray Babbitt’s character is based on a real savant called Kim Peek, who was born in 1951 with an unusually formed brain. Doctors predicted that Kim would never be able to lead a normal life, and it is true that he still lives with his father, who looks
after him. As a child, he couldn’t walk until he was four years old. However, he has always had extraordinary mental abilities. He could use a dictionary when he was three years old. пустоE Since childhood, he has read, and can recall in detail, about
7,600 books. He can read two pages simultaneously (one with each eye) in about 10 seconds and remember forever what he has read.
Savants are very rare: there are only about 25 alive in the world today. Their special abilities differ. The blind American savant, Leslie Lemke, was able to play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto № 1 after hearing it once, even though he had never had a piano
lesson. пустоF Other talents have included being able to measure exact distances with the naked eye and knowing the exact time without looking at a clock.
Daniel Tammet is a British savant and his special abilities are mathematical and linguistic. (He managed to learn Icelandic in a few days, and could speak it fluently after one week). Unlike most savants, Tammet is a good communicator. пустоG He explains
that his mathematical feats – like reciting pi to 22,514 decimal places – do not involve ‘thinking’. пустоD For Daniel, numbers are not abstract, they are real and familiar, like friends.
Intriguingly, some scientists believe that we all have these kinds of amazing abilities hidden deep inside our brains, but that we lose them as our brains develop. пустоH This theory is supported by the fact that, very occasionally, people acquire these
abilities in adult life as the result of brain damage. Allan Snyder, director of the Australian Centre for the Mind, believes that we all might be able to release special skills by somehow ‘switching off’ the normal, conscious functions of the mind.
He conducts experiments on himself, firing strong magnetic waves into his head to see whether he can temporarily become a savant. пустоC ‘We are all potential geniuses,’ he claims.
A The British savant Stephen Wiltshire managed to draw a highly accurate picture of the London skyline after a single helicopter trip over the city.
B Although finding volunteers for his experiments can be difficult, as Snyder admits, he believes that the possibilities are very exciting.
C By the age of four and a half, he had memorised the first eight volumes of an encyclopedia.
D He can reflect on his own special abilities in a way that most savants cannot.
E However, as Charlie discovers, Ray has a few incredible abilities.
F They all have a similar ability to do amazing calculations in their head, like Ray Babbitt in the film Rain Man.
G Instead, he visualises the number in his head, as if he’s watching a film.
H Savants are different: they don’t develop normally and as a result they don’t lose their special abilities.