SUPER MEMORY

 

Rebecca Sharrock’s first memory is from when she was 12 days old

1. An Australian woman can remember everything that happened to her since she was a newborn baby.

2. Rebecca Sharrock, 27, from Brisbane, Australia, is one of 80 people in the world who has the rare illness. She has a very powerful memory, and can remember very small details from her life such as what presents she got on her first birthday. Sharrock can also keep a lot of information in her brain, which means she can remember every word of the Harry Potter books.

3. However, people with this ability can also experience painful memories, often about break-ups or when friends or family died.

4. In a post with the title "I can remember back to when I was a newborn child’, Sharrock wrote on a blog that her earliest memory is from when she was 12 days old.

5. She described how her parents carried her to the driver’s seat of their car and put her down for a photo. She wrote that when she was a newborn child, she was curious about the seat cover and steering wheel above her in the car. At that time though, she didn’t want to get up and play with these objects.

6. Sharrock wrote about how she used to look at her toys in her crib and the fan next to it; the uncomfortable dress that her parents made her wear on her first birthday; and a Minnie Mouse soft toy that really scared her. Sharrock says she remembers that she started to dream when she was 18 months old.

7. To help people understand the human memory better, Sharrock is taking part in two different studies with scientists in the US and Australia. She hopes that the work will help many people with memory problems.

8. Sharrock isn’t the only person with this ability to share her story. Alexandra Wolff, a 25-year-old from Maryland in the US, told NPR (National Public Radio) in an interview that the illness feels like "time travel".

9. She told the interviewer she can remember everything she hears and feels in a day, even small things like a headache or feeling worried about something.

10. This means Wolff can experience the happiest moments of her life again clearly, and she does this often when she is alone in her room.

11. "If I didn’t have stuff to do all day, I could probably live in the past 24/7," she said. 

Adapted from the Independent, by Kashmira Gander,

25th of April 2017

I Read the text again and put T (true) or F (false) next to each statement below.

1. Rebecca Sharrock lives in Sydney.

2. Rebecca wasn’t interested in the things in her parents’ car when she was very young.

3. Rebecca remembers that she didn’t like the dress she had to wear on her first birthday.

4. Sharrock is taking part in an experiment to learn more about people with memory problems.

5. An American woman has also talked about what it is like to have the illness.

II Find a word or phrase in the text which means ...

1. a child that was recently born (collocation, P.1):

2. have (something) happen to you (verb, P.3):

3. the end of romantic relationships (noun - plural, P.3):

4. a small bed for a child (noun, P.6):

5. a machine that moves the air around to make a place cooler (noun, P.6):

6. unhappy because you are thinking about bad things that could happen (adj., P.9):

7. activities that you talk about in a general way (noun - informal, P.11):