Reading
You are going to read three extracts which are all concerned in some way with memory. Choose the answer A, B, C or D which you think fits best according to the text.
Being a hostage
(This extract is from a book called Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. In the story so far, kidnappers in a Spanish-speaking country in Latin America have taken a number of people hostage. One of these is Mr Hosokawa, the Chief Executive Officer of a big Japanese company, Nansei. Mr Hosokawa loves opera, which has inspired him to try to learn Italian in the past. Another hostage, Gen, is Mr Hosokawas translator.) But in this vast ocean of time Mr. Hosokawa could not seem to startle up any concern for Nansei. While he stared at the weather he never wondered if his abduction had affected stock prices. He did not care who was making his decisions, sitting at his desk. The company that had been his life, his son, had fallen away from him as thoughtlessly as a coin is dropped. He took a small spiral notebook from the pocket of his tuxedo jacket and, after inquiring as to the correct spelling from Gen, added the word garual to his list. Incentive was key. No matter how many times Mr. Hosokawa had listened to his Italian tapes in Japan he could remember nothing that was on them. No sooner had he heard the beautiful words, dimora, patrono, than they vanished from memory. But after only one week of captivity look at all the Spanish he had learned! Ahora was now; sentarse, sit; ponerse de pie, stand up; suefio, sleep, and requetebueno was very good, but it was always spoken with a certain coarseness and condescension that told the listener not that he had done well but that he was too stupid to merit high expectations. And it wasn't just the language that had to be overcome, there were all the names to learn as well, those of the hostages, those of the captors when you could get one of them to tell you his name. The people were from so many different countries that there were no easy tricks of association, no familiar toehold from which to pull oneself up. The room was full of men he did not know and should know, though they all smiled and nodded to one another. He would have to work harder to introduce himself. At Nansei he had made a point of learning the names of as many of his employees as was possible. He remembered the names of the businessmen he entertained and the names of their wives whom he inquired after and never met.
1 Mr.Hosaka finds it easier to learn Spanish now than to learn Italian in Japan because
A he didn't write down words in Italian.
B he found it difficult to learn from tapes.
C he now has more motivation to learn.
D the captors and other hostages are good teachers.
2 Which of the following best explains why Mr.Hosaka finds it difficult to learn the names of the captors and other hostages.
A He has always been bad at learning people's names.
B They have Spanish names.
C He is not sufficiently motivated to do so.
D They are not Japanese.
The purpose of memory
As Matthew WilIson, of the Pic ower Institute for Learning and Memory in Cambridge, Massachusetts observes, memory is like everything else in biology. It has evolved to serve a purpose and is honed for that purpose, which in this case is to react appropriately to the stimuli an animal meets in the environment by drawing on the experience of previous encounters. That is emphatically not the same as having a perfect memory for each of those encounters. Instead, memory should generalise from similar experiences and disregard the individual details. And indeed that is most people's everyday experience. The elderly are notorious for remembering every detail of their childhood but being unable to recall what they did last week. Such inability to remember details is often regarded as a failing, whereas so-called eidetic (or photographic) memory is often admired by outsiders.
In Dr.Wilson's view this perception is probably wrong. Indeed, an ideal memory would have generalized from experience to such an extent that individual events no longer need to be remembered at all; merely the appropriate response to the situation. So the fact that the elderly, who already have vast experience to draw on, do not waste precious storage capacity on adding things that will not aid their survival could well be the result of evolutionary adaptation rather than an indication of waning powers.
3 In what way, according to Matthew Wilson, are memory and everything else in biology similar?
A They all adapt to changing circumstances.
B They all originate in our animal instincts.
C They all vary across individuals.
D They are all far from perfect.
4 In Dr. Wilson's view, why do older people remember fewer details of a recent situation than do younger people?
A They have reduced ability to remember facts.
B They do not have the brain capacity to store details.
C They lose the ability to react to a stimulus.
D They do not need to be able to remember details.
The myth that memory is perfect
One in four of us is susceptible to false memory syndrome. With prompting and coaxing, one in four of us can be led to believe that something has occurred in our past that, in fact, has no basis in truth. After the 1992 Amsterdam plane crash, a study showed that an impossible 66% of those interviewed claimed to have seen the event. Witness testimony is vulnerable to suggestibility and in particular there are differences of reliability with regard to age, race, presence of a weapon and duration of exposure to the evidence. Older people are more likely to pick someone from an identity parade. Own-race bias (ORB) means that the identification of someone of one's own race is more accurate than of someone of another race.
It can be seen that memory is a more malleable phenomenon than everyday sense would lead us to believe. This makes the 'truth' itself more fallible, particularly when it involves an individual drawing upon it. In order for us to survive and to lead balanced and healthy lives, we have become accomplished practitioners in false memory syndrome. Thankfully this is a very necessary part of every day existence: a survival imperative. What would your life be like if you could remember everything'?
5 In what way does the 1992 Amsterdam plane crash exemplify false memory syndrome?
A People claimed they saw the plane crash in order to please the interviewers.
B More people claimed to see the plane crash than actually did.
C People's memories of the event were influenced by their age.
D People don't quickly forget a traumatic event like this.
6 In the writer's view, memories are unreliable because
A people are prejudiced against other races.
B people only remember what they want to
C people are influenced by what others say and do.
D people try to remember everything.
Being a hostage
(This extract is from a book called Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. In the story so far, kidnappers in a Spanish-speaking country in Latin America have taken a number of people hostage. One of these is Mr Hosokawa, the Chief Executive Officer of a big Japanese company, Nansei. Mr Hosokawa loves opera, which has inspired him to try to learn Italian in the past. Another hostage, Gen, is Mr Hosokawas translator.) But in this vast ocean of time Mr. Hosokawa could not seem to startle up any concern for Nansei. While he stared at the weather he never wondered if his abduction had affected stock prices. He did not care who was making his decisions, sitting at his desk. The company that had been his life, his son, had fallen away from him as thoughtlessly as a coin is dropped. He took a small spiral notebook from the pocket of his tuxedo jacket and, after inquiring as to the correct spelling from Gen, added the word garual to his list. Incentive was key. No matter how many times Mr. Hosokawa had listened to his Italian tapes in Japan he could remember nothing that was on them. No sooner had he heard the beautiful words, dimora, patrono, than they vanished from memory. But after only one week of captivity look at all the Spanish he had learned! Ahora was now; sentarse, sit; ponerse de pie, stand up; suefio, sleep, and requetebueno was very good, but it was always spoken with a certain coarseness and condescension that told the listener not that he had done well but that he was too stupid to merit high expectations. And it wasn't just the language that had to be overcome, there were all the names to learn as well, those of the hostages, those of the captors when you could get one of them to tell you his name. The people were from so many different countries that there were no easy tricks of association, no familiar toehold from which to pull oneself up. The room was full of men he did not know and should know, though they all smiled and nodded to one another. He would have to work harder to introduce himself. At Nansei he had made a point of learning the names of as many of his employees as was possible. He remembered the names of the businessmen he entertained and the names of their wives whom he inquired after and never met.
1 Mr.Hosaka finds it easier to learn Spanish now than to learn Italian in Japan because
A he didn't write down words in Italian.
B he found it difficult to learn from tapes.
C he now has more motivation to learn.
D the captors and other hostages are good teachers.
2 Which of the following best explains why Mr.Hosaka finds it difficult to learn the names of the captors and other hostages.
A He has always been bad at learning people's names.
B They have Spanish names.
C He is not sufficiently motivated to do so.
D They are not Japanese.
The purpose of memory
As Matthew WilIson, of the Pic ower Institute for Learning and Memory in Cambridge, Massachusetts observes, memory is like everything else in biology. It has evolved to serve a purpose and is honed for that purpose, which in this case is to react appropriately to the stimuli an animal meets in the environment by drawing on the experience of previous encounters. That is emphatically not the same as having a perfect memory for each of those encounters. Instead, memory should generalise from similar experiences and disregard the individual details. And indeed that is most people's everyday experience. The elderly are notorious for remembering every detail of their childhood but being unable to recall what they did last week. Such inability to remember details is often regarded as a failing, whereas so-called eidetic (or photographic) memory is often admired by outsiders.
In Dr.Wilson's view this perception is probably wrong. Indeed, an ideal memory would have generalized from experience to such an extent that individual events no longer need to be remembered at all; merely the appropriate response to the situation. So the fact that the elderly, who already have vast experience to draw on, do not waste precious storage capacity on adding things that will not aid their survival could well be the result of evolutionary adaptation rather than an indication of waning powers.
3 In what way, according to Matthew Wilson, are memory and everything else in biology similar?
A They all adapt to changing circumstances.
B They all originate in our animal instincts.
C They all vary across individuals.
D They are all far from perfect.
4 In Dr. Wilson's view, why do older people remember fewer details of a recent situation than do younger people?
A They have reduced ability to remember facts.
B They do not have the brain capacity to store details.
C They lose the ability to react to a stimulus.
D They do not need to be able to remember details.
The myth that memory is perfect
One in four of us is susceptible to false memory syndrome. With prompting and coaxing, one in four of us can be led to believe that something has occurred in our past that, in fact, has no basis in truth. After the 1992 Amsterdam plane crash, a study showed that an impossible 66% of those interviewed claimed to have seen the event. Witness testimony is vulnerable to suggestibility and in particular there are differences of reliability with regard to age, race, presence of a weapon and duration of exposure to the evidence. Older people are more likely to pick someone from an identity parade. Own-race bias (ORB) means that the identification of someone of one's own race is more accurate than of someone of another race.
It can be seen that memory is a more malleable phenomenon than everyday sense would lead us to believe. This makes the 'truth' itself more fallible, particularly when it involves an individual drawing upon it. In order for us to survive and to lead balanced and healthy lives, we have become accomplished practitioners in false memory syndrome. Thankfully this is a very necessary part of every day existence: a survival imperative. What would your life be like if you could remember everything'?
5 In what way does the 1992 Amsterdam plane crash exemplify false memory syndrome?
A People claimed they saw the plane crash in order to please the interviewers.
B More people claimed to see the plane crash than actually did.
C People's memories of the event were influenced by their age.
D People don't quickly forget a traumatic event like this.
6 In the writer's view, memories are unreliable because
A people are prejudiced against other races.
B people only remember what they want to
C people are influenced by what others say and do.
D people try to remember everything.