Can you imagine being able to remember every single experience of your life and every word in your favorite book? That's what Becky's life is like, and as wonderful as it sounds, it can also be quite terrifying at times.
Three years ago, Becky was reading a newspaper article which mentioned that it was impossible for people to remember the details of their life in the first three years. "What nonsense(胡说八道)!" she thought, because she could clearly remember her life all the way back to when she was just 12 days old. Her parents had carried her to the driver's seat of their car and laid her down for a photo. But it wasn't nonsense. She was just one of only 80 known people who have a condition called HSAM (Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory).
Becky's unusual condition was recently shown on a program called 60 minutes, where reporter Allison tested her ability by asking her questions about her favorite book series, Harry Potter. Allison would pick up a book and open a page and read her a line. Immediately Becky would name the book, chapter number, chapter name and could recite every word until Allison told her to stop.
Being able to remember every little detail is a great ability, but as every person with HSAM will tell you, it can be very hard to deal with. Forgetting is one of the things we use to get over sad experiences in our lives, but it's something that people like Becky are unable to do. Even walking on the street and lightly bumping(撞) into somebody brings back memories from Becky's childhood, when a boy knocked her over. She's taken right back to that time, living the experience all over again. Also, like Becky, people with HSAM never do well in school, because they have problems filtering(过滤) through all the information, remembering only the important bits.
Becky's special brain could help scientists find a way to treat people with terrible illnesses like Alzheimer's. Her condition could hold the secret to treating or even preventing Alzheimer's.
I work as a meteorologist(气象学家) in Tampa, Florida. It's my job to follow hurricanes(飓风) and provide information about them to scientists.
I was working for the National Meteorological Office in Bracknell, near London, in the autumn of 1995, and I saw a documentary called Stormchasers with family. Two months later I came across an ad for a meteorologist to work in Florida. I was interviewed over the phone, moved to the US, and started to work here in Tampa in May 1996.
I have been all over the world hunting hurricanes. It's exciting to end up in different cities and different countries day after day. If you are a meteorologist, you have to love flying. I also love working with top scientists. For me, it's like a classroom in the sky.
People often ask me what an average day is like. In fact, there's no such thing as an average day in my job! We often take off at a moment's notice to hunt storms.
Next, I would like to join a space program and be the first meteorologist in space. There aren't any hurricanes!
If you also want to be a meteorologist, study math and science and get a degree in meteorology. I have taken the hurricane hunter path, but you could do research.
A. I have learned so much from them.
B. What I like most about my job is the travel.
C. It's a wonderful job and the pay is pretty good.
D. It all depends on the weather, and you can't control that.
E. However, I haven't come up with an experiment to do in space yet.
F. Because of the job, I'm away from my family who all live in the UK.
G. It was about hurricane hunters and I thought, "Wow, that's an interesting job!"
