新概念英語第四冊（美音版）Seeing hands

Lesson 4
Seeing hands
能看見東西的手
First listen and answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
How did Vera discover she had this gift of second sight?
Several cases have been reported in Russia recently of people who can detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid and walls. One case concerns and eleven-year-old schoolgirl, Vera Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things with different parts of her skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. One day she came into his office and happened to put her hands on the door of a locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there, and even described the way they were done up in bundles.
Vera's curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research institute in the town of Ulyanovsk, near where she lives, and in April she was given a series of tests by a special commission of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federal Republic. During these tests she was able to read a newspaper through an opaque screen and, stranger still, by moving her elbow over a child's game of Lotto she was able to describe the figures and colours printed on it; and, in another instance, wearing stockings and slippers, to make out with her foot the outlines and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet. Other experiments showed that her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all these tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive things with her skin. It was also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.
ERIC DE MAUNY Seeing hands from The Listener

New words and expressions
solid
adj. 堅(jiān)實(shí)的
safe
n. 保險(xiǎn)柜
Ulyanovsk
n. 烏里揚(yáng)諾夫斯克
commission
n. 委員會(huì)
opaque
adj. 不透明的
lotto
n. 一種有編號的紙牌
slipper
n. 拖鞋
blindfold
adj.& adv. 被蒙上眼睛的