READING COMPREHENSION. ADVANCED LEVEL
Read this extract from a book about memory and then for questions 1-4, choose the best option.
Memories are our most enduring characteristic. In old age we can remember our childhood eighty or more years ago; a chance remark can conjure up a face, a name, a vision of sea or mountains once seen and apparently long forgotten. Memory defines who we are and shapes how we act more closely than any other aspect of our personhood. All of life is a trajectory from experienced past to unknown future, illuminated only during the always receding instant we call the present, the moment of our actual, conscious experience. Yet our present appears continuous with our past, grows out of it, is shaped by it, because of our capacity for memory. It is this which prevents the past from being lost, as unknowable as the future. It is memory which thus provides time with its arrow. For each of us, our memories are unique. You can lose a limb, have plastic surgery, a kidney transplant or a sex-change operation, yet you are still in an important sense recognizably yourself as long as your memories persist. We know who we are, and who other people are, in terms of memory. Lose your memory and you as you, cease to exist, which is why clinical cases of amnesia are so endlessly fascinating and frightening. Advocates of cryonics, that Californian fantasy of quick-freezing the dead until future advances in medical technology can bring them back to life, recognize this; they propose a computer backup store for the frozen corpse’s memories which may somehow be read into the revived body at a future time. But our own human memories are not embedded in a computer, they are encoded in the brain, in the ten billion nerve cells that comprise the human cerebrum – and the connections and pathways between these cells. Memories are living processes, which become transformed, imbued with new meanings each time we record them. Most of us worry that we have a poor memory, that we forget faces, vital appointments. Yet the scale and extent of what any of us can remember are prodigious. Imagine sitting down and looking at a photograph for a few seconds. Then another, then another… Suppose that a week later I show you the photographs again, each accompanied by a new, different one, and ask you to say which you had seen before. How many photographs do you think you could identify correctly before your memory ran out or you became confused? When I asked my colleagues in the lab, their guesses ranged from twenty to fifty. Yet when the experiment is done in reality most people can identify accurately at least ten thousand different photographs without showing any signs of ‘running out’ of memory capacity. Do we then really forget at all? Are all our past experiences, as some schools of psychoanalysis maintain, encoded in some way within our brains, so that, if only we could find the key to accessing them, every detail of our past would become as transparent to us as is the present moment of our consciousness? Or is forgetting functional, so that we record and remember only those things which we have reason to believe are important for our future survival? If that were so then to have a perfect memory would not be a help but a hindrance in our day-to-day existence, and the long Source: Proficiency Passkey Workbook.
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READING COMPREHENSION. ADVANCED LEVEL
search for techniques or drugs to improve our memory – a search which goes back far into antiquity – would be at best a chimera.
1 . Why is memory described as our most enduring characteristic? a) old people can remember details of their own childhood. b) it provides a link between our past and our future. c) all our actions and behaviour are products of our memory. d) it is an individual characteristic, unknowable to other people. 2 . People are fascinated by cases of amnesia because a) it is a highly unusual condition. b) it represents a loss of individual identity. c) it can be brought on by routine medical treatment. d) they are afraid that others may not recognize them. 3 . What doubts does the author have about cryonics? a) it oversimplifies the problem. b) It originated in California. c) it is completely unscientific. d) it is too reliant on computers. 4 . What is shown by the experiment using photographs? a) memory can easily be improved. b) we worry unnecessarily about our memory. c) we underestimate our memory. d) the human memory is very powerful. PSYCHIC Read the following passage. Everyone knows that towards the end of his presidency Ronald Reagan could hardly make a move without consulting an astrologer. However, the mind boggles at the possibility that the British government might use a hotline to psychic powers. Nevertheless it as been revealed that British Intelligence is in contact with a self-styled ‘psychic dreamer’ who supplies them with advance information on important crimes which are about to happen. The man with the premonitory antennae is Chris Robinson, a 44-year-old former television engineer. He seems an unlikely candidate for a real-life version of The XFiles but he has had some startling successes with his predictions. Dreams provide the key. According to Robinson, it all began in the late 80s, when his slumbers were interrupted by ‘conversations’ with his dead grandmother. Later his dreams were invaded by a range of symbols which enabled him to predict specific crimes. Terrorists were represented by dogs, cups signified bodies, meat pies chillingly foreshadowed multiple deaths and images of cats or dogs indicated that fanatical animal liberationists were at work.
Source: Proficiency Passkey Workbook.
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READING COMPREHENSION. ADVANCED LEVEL
Robinson decide to share the messages from his subconscious with the authorities and warned them of a crime that was about to take place. When his predictions came true a few days later, he was rewarded by being detained and interrogated; he claims that his home was bugged, his telephone was tapped, and he was subjected to 24-hour surveillance. Undaunted by this scepticism, he carried on with his work and warned the authorities of an imminent attack on the Prime Minister with uncanny accuracy. Subsequently he was given a contact in the police and Intelligence Service, and has been handsomely rewarded for his services. Doubts about Robinson’s methods have been raised by the revelations that in the 80s he was an enthusiastic amateur radio fan, and he frequently used equipment that could be used to intercept calls from mobile phones and the emergency services. Indeed, on one occasion, he phoned with a prediction of a crime that had in fact already happened, and details had been broadcast on the radio and TV. However, Dr Keith Hearne, an independent psychologist, has taken a special interest in Robinson’s predictions. He has observed the psychic at work as he scribbles down the images he has dreamt for later decoding. Hearne believes that Robinson has genuine powers, but admits he has an undeniable tendency to emphasise his successes while evading questions on the ones that got away. Of one thing Hearne is certain: Robinson has an impressively accurate record when it comes to terrorist attacks. While the intelligence services and police forces deny that they have any official links with Robinson, they admit that they have been in touch. It will always be difficult for them to determine whether he has any genuinely paranormal powers as he operates in a grey area where sheer guesswork, intuition and possibly telepathy could all play a part, and his dreams are always symbolic and open to interpretation. But when he phones again, we can be certain someone will listen.
For questions 1-6, choose the best option.
1 . The writer appears to be extremely surprised that a) Ronald Reagan appeared to believe in horoscopes. b) the British authorities have links with a psychic. c) psychics can provide warnings of important crimes. d) important information has been kept secret from the public. 2 . Robinson seems to obtain his detailed predictions by a) ‘talking’ to his dead grandmother while he dreams. b) communicating with animals in his dreams. c) interpreting images in his dreams. d) analysing the crimes he sees in his dreams. 3 . The authorities’ initial reaction to Robinson’s claims indicate that they thought he a) was personally involved with the crimes. Source: Proficiency Passkey Workbook.
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READING COMPREHENSION. ADVANCED LEVEL
b) had a contact in the intelligence service. c) had paranormal powers. d) was obtaining information by tapping phones. 4 . The authorities’ attitude towards Robinson changed a) when they began to pay him for his services. b) when they had examined the methods he was using. c) after another of his predictions came true. d) on the orders of the Prime Minister. 5 . Investigations of Robinson’s supposed psychic abilities have shown that a) he always makes use of conventional methods to obtain information. b) his only successful predictions are based on facts that are already known. c) he dislikes discussing predictions that turn out to be correct. d) he appears really able to foresee some kinds of crime. 6 . The writer appears to think that a) Robinson is a genuine psychic. b) the authorities should be more open about their relationship with Robinson. c) the authorities should take more notice of Robinson. d) it would be unwise to dismiss Robinson completely.
Source: Proficiency Passkey Workbook.
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