阅读理解
Laurence Kim Peek was born in Salt Lake City,
Utah, on November 11, 1951. It was clear from an early age that he was not like
other children. A medical scan(扫描) showed that the two halves of his brain
were not connected in the usual way. As a result, Laurence developed an amazing
memory. He started to read when he was two. He used to read books and put them
back on the shelf upside down to show that he had finished them. He remembered
everything he had read.
He memorized quite a lot of information subjects
such as History, Geography, Sports, Music and Literature. He also had an
unbelievable ability with numbers and dates.
To read more quickly, he read the left page
with his left eye and the right page with his right eye. By reading the two
pages at the same time, it took him less than an hour to read a whole book. By
the age of 30, he had memorized around 12,000 books.
However, he did not develop so well in
other areas. He could not walk until he was four, and he had problems putting
on his clothes and shoes His social skills were poor, and he was extremely sensitive(敏感的)
about meeting new people. In 1984, Peek and his father met Hollywood film writer
Barry Morrow. Morrow was fascinated by Peek and began to write a new play about
Peek's experiences. The result was Rain Man in 1988, a film that won an Oscar
for Best Picture. This changed Peek's life. He got used to being the centre
of attention. He self-confident (自信的). He appeared on
TV and travelled around the country with his father to develop awareness(意识) of his condition. Sadly, Peek died of a heart attack in 2009.