Questions specific to Narrator.
Yes! A third-party company called Cepstral LLC supplies several high-quality voices, both in US English and several other languages. See the Narrator Voice Talent page to hear samples, and for links to download or buy the voices.
Yes! Narrator 2 added this much-requested feature, along with an export to iTunes.
(This question only applies to Narrator 1; Narrator 2 uses different markers, and is much smarter about speaking.)
Narrator uses the color of the text to match text to actors. The pasted text must use different colors than in the actors drawer - even if it looks the same, it might be slightly different. To correct this, do the following:
1. Paste in your text;
2. Select all (Cmd-A);
3. Click on an actor in the drawer, e.g. Default;
4. Click Apply.
Check out the Narrator Help (also available from the Help menu in the application); it includes lots of information about the application.