高考英语话题阅读素材：Unit77APhenomenalMemory.docVIP

Unit 77　　A Phenomenal Memory　　I have a phenomenal memory for faces. There is no doubt about that. The only snag is that I can never remember the names that go with them. Only the other day, I raised my hat to one fellow, quite distinguished-looking he was, and I thought: My bank manager ... my broker? I had to go and ask him. Im Rankin, your next-door neighbor, Mr. Peabody, he said, rather acidly. It was through my awful memory for names that something unpleasant happened to me not long ago.　　It was a Friday evening and I was in the train on my way home. It was not my regular train, for I had been kept late at work, and when it got to Ruislip, three stops before mine, there were only two of us in the compartment. I could tell straight away he was an Oxbridge man. Im an Oxbridge man, and I had definitely seen this fellows face there. But his name completely eluded me. It was most irritating. Who was he? I thought he might be one of the newcomers to the pretty little estate recently completed near to where I live.　　I am not shy, so I began to talk in a very chatty manner. He was somewhat uncommunicative and certainly gave nothing away. I can see that he was rather worn out, as if he had had a bad day, and I put his reluctance to talk down to this.　　Is this your regular train? I asked, hopefully. It usually works in my experience. Not often, he said. That was all. Well, that certainly told me a lot. I started to complain about railways, then the hooliganism at football matches, inflation and a host of other topic. He only said yes or no now and then. Even my comment on the weather had no effect. I told him quite a lot about myself, how my ship had come that day, a friend had repaid me $200 in cash and many other details. He showed a flicker of interest, nothing more. I thought what a bore this fellow must be, and in the end I gave up. I opened my paper, and when next I glanced at him, he had fallen asleep.　　As we were coming into Oxbridge, he was still snoozing.