7. Thinking about the past can make sadness less painful. 8. People who do not think about the past much have little direction in life. E
___ ___
039 Before you check the answers to Exercise D, listen to some students talking about them. Which student gives the correct answer to each question? Write (M) male or (F) female.
1. ___ 2. ___ 3. ___ 4. ___ 5. ___ 6. ___ 7. ___ 8. ___
Exam tip: When tasks in the Reading test are multiple choice or T/F/NG tasks, do not use your own knowledge of the topic or assume that an answer is obvious. You must find the answer in the text. Remember that questions will sometimes include words from the text that make you think an answer is true when it is not.
Reading 2: practise making sure that information is given in the text
A You will read a longer text about nostalgia. Before you read, guess why the words and phrases in the box below are mentioned. Compare ideas with a partner.
a spell in hospital or prison a record collection a neurological disorder
self-esteem film sequels
the Greek language advertising
B Read the text and answer the questions that follow. Check your ideas in Exercise A as you do so. Looking for the Purpose of Nostalgia
A Nostalgia is one of those words which everyone understands and uses quite freely, but which is almost impossible to clearly define. What exactly is nostalgia? There is not yet a great deal of scientific literature on nostalgia, but there are a few fascinating studies that have attempted to identify its essence, and the reasons that we feel that warm glow when reminiscing.
B People appreciate that nostalgia is all about memories and that these recollections are generally of important events, people we care about or who have influenced us, and places in which we have spent time. What perhaps people realize less is that nostalgia is almost always associated with positive emotions, even when the trigger for recalling a particular memory is something negative. Research suggests that a negative memory can evoke feelings of nostalgia as long as the period or situation to which the feeling relates was eventually overcome. Some individuals report feeling nostalgic about generally painful schooldays, a job they loathed or even a spell in hospital or prison.
C Smell and touch are the senses that tend to most readily prompt nostalgia, perhaps due to the processing of these stimuli first passing through the amygdala, the emotional seat of the brain. This may explain why environments like primary school or hospital bring back vague but fond recollections, rather than concrete memories of fear or dislike. Music is also known to be a strong trigger, perhaps explaining why most record collections or MP3s are full of songs from bygone eras listened to more for old times’ sake than for their timeless quality.
D So, what is the point of nostalgia? Does nostalgia serve a purpose? The brain is incredibly energy-intensive, on average using more glucose each day than do muscles. It goes without saying that the brain rarely does something without a good reason. It should be noted that the word nostalgia is the foundation of two Greek words, nostos, meaning ‘homecoming’, and algos, meaning ‘pain’. However, the word was first used popularly among 18th
-century medics, who
were still determined that they would find a nostalgia bone or organ somewhere in the body. During the American Civil War, soldiers suffering from severe homesickness were temporarily relieved of their posts and treated as though they had a tangible physical condition.
E For much of the 19th century, though no longer considered a neurological disorder, nostalgia
continued to be associated with homesickness and depression. It was only when it became clear that people could clearly distinguish between homesickness, a negative feeling of loss or yearning, and nostalgia, a warm feeling of past comfort, that the more modern usage of the term became widely understood.
Pathway to IELTS 6.0 57
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