Tenses 

D 
Exam practice 
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. 
This exercise tests 
grammar from the 
rest of the book 
as well as the 
grammar in 
this unit. 

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 Hosokawa's 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 garúato 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; sueño, 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. 

garúa is the Spanish word for 'mist 

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. Che 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 Wilson, of the Picower 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 generalised 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. 

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Tenses 

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 everyday 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.
ç people are influenced by what others say and do. D people try to remember
everything. 
Grammar focus task 

This is an extract from the first text. Without looking back at it, fill in the
gaps using the past perfect or past simple of the verb in brackets. But in
this vast ocean of time Mr. Hosokawa could not seem to startle up any concern for
Nansei. While he (1) ......... stared......... (stare) at the weather he never (2)
...............had wondered.............. (wonder) if his abduction (3)
.....................affected....... (affect) stock prices. He
(4)...................did not care.......... (not care)
who was making his decisions, sitting at his desk. The company
that (5).............had been.............. (was) his life,
his son, (6) ................had fallen.......... (fall)
away from him as thoughtlessly as a coin is dropped. He (7)
....................took......... (take) a small spiral notebook
from the pocket of his tuxedo jacket and, after inquiring as to the
correct spelling from Gen, (8) .......added...... (add) the word garúa to
his list. Incentive (9) ......................was......(be) key. No matter how
many times Mr. Hosokawa (10) ..................had listened...........
(listen) to his Italian tapes in Japan he could remember nothing that was on them.
No sooner (11) ..........had heard.. ............. (hear) the beautiful words,
dimora, patrono, than they (12) .......................vanished......
(vanish) from memory. But after only one week of captivity look at all the
Spanish he (13) ... .had learned......... (learn)! 

c Writing 
You have recently read an article in an English language magazine aimed at young
adults, which reported a survey finding that television was considered to be the
most important invention of the last 100 years. You decide to write an article
arguing that another invention has had as great an impact. Describe the
invention and the impact it has had on our world, and say why you think it is a more
important invention than television. Write your article in 300-350 words. 

Writing hints 

This task gives you the chance to practise a range of tenses: . past simple
when talking about the impact of television 
Television brought films and news into people's homes. . present perfect when
talking about the impact so far of your chosen greatest invention 
The mobile phone has changed the way we conduct conversations. . present simple
to describe the characteristics of your chosen greatest invention 
Jet engines provide much more power than propellers. 
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