I believe the correct answer is B. (Back story: At first, I thought it was about Rosa Parks and how she didn't give up her seat on the bus (because I didn't read the answer choices. lol).
No, it does not according to the study. the study states it is just a placebo effect (it works because you expect it to.)
While one story happens inside one building, the other takes place all over the country.
In this paragraph the speaker describes his grandmother's look, who is living in a nursing home. He compares her with Ethel Barrymore and says they both have "faces like the side of a mountain and wonderful voices like syrup being poured". He means they both have rough-textured skins, like most elder people, and that they have soft silky voices.