Abigail and Brittany

Abigail "Abby" Loraine Hensel and Brittany "Britty" Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990 in Carver County, Minnesota, US) are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning that they are conjoined twins of whom each has a separate head, but whose bodies are joined. They are highly symmetric, giving the appearance of having just a single body with little variation from normal proportion. In fact, several vital organs are doubled up, each woman having a separate heart, stomach, spine and spinal cord.
Each twin controls half their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs. This means that as infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate symmetrically. Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require that each twin perform a sequence of quite separate actions that coordinate with the other. Abigail and Brittany are notable both for their rare physiology and for the many successes that they have achieved in overcoming this physical challenge in their individual and corporate lives.
Background
Abigail and Brittany Hensel were born in Carver County, Minnesota, the daughters of Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike Hensel, a carpenter and landscaper. The twins have a younger brother named Dakota, or Koty for short, a younger sister named Morgan, and a dog named Sadie. They were raised in New Germany and attended Lutheran High School in Mayer, Minnesota.
Physiology
The Hensel twins have a single body with separate heads and necks, a chest that is wider than normal, two arms and two legs. At birth they had a rudimentary arm attached to a shoulder blade at the back. The arm was removed, leaving the shoulder blade.
Abigail's head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees to the right while Brittany's head tilts laterally at about 15 degrees to the left, causing Brittany to appear to be slightly the shorter. At age 12, they underwent surgery at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare to correct
scoliosis and to expand their chest cavity to prevent future difficulties with breathing.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body. The sense of touch of each is restricted to her body half; They are effective in cooperatively using their limbs when both hands or both legs are required.

By coordinating their efforts, they are able to walk, run, swim and ride a bicycle normally — all tasks that they learned at a normal speed. Together, they can type on a computer keyboard at a normal speed and drive a car.
Organ distribution
Abigail and Brittany have individual organs in the upper part of their body while most of the organs located at or below the level of the navel are shared, the exception being the spinal cord.
2 heads
2 spines
2 completely separate spinal cords
2 arms (originally 3, but rudimentary central arm was surgically removed, leaving central shoulder blade in place)
1 broad ribcage with two 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery was employed to expand the pleural cavities
2 breasts
2 hearts (nutrition, respiration, medicine taken by either affects both)
4 lungs
1 diaphragm
2 stomachs
2 gallbladders
1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
Y-shaped small intestine which experiences a slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
1 large intestine with one colon
3 kidneys: 2 left, 1 right
1 bladder
1 set of reproductive organs
2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
1 slightly broad pelvis
2 legs
Separation
Upon their birth, their parents rejected the option to attempt surgical separation after hearing from doctors that it was not likely that both girls would survive the operation. As the girls grew and learned to walk and develop other skills, the parents confirmed their decision against separation, arguing that the quality of life for the surviving twin or twins living separately would be less than their quality of life as conjoined beings.
TEXT COMPREHENSION
1- Choose the correct item according to the text:
a) Koty and Morgan are the twins' siblings
b) Morgan is Patty's sister
c) Dakota is Mike Hensel's brother
d) Abigail and Brittany can't swim
e) The twins were raised in Germany
2- The twins are ______________years old.
a) twenty
b) twenty one
c) twenty two
d) twenty three
e) twenty four
3- Check the correct alternative according to the text:
*The conjoined twins have
a) one stomach
b) three arms
c) three kidneys
d) one heart
e) two large intestines
4- Choose the correct item according to the text:
a) Morgan Hensel is a nurse
b) Dakota Hensel is a carpenter
c) Dakota is older than the twins
d) Mike Hensel is a landscaper
e) The twins were born in Mayer
5- The twins live in ______________.
a) Germany
b) New Germany
c) South Dakota
d) North Dakota
e) St. Paul