Social Media Influencers

It is estimated that about 40 per cent of the world’s population use social media, and many of these billions of social media users look up to influencers to help them decide what to buy and what trends to follow.

So what is an influencer and how do we become one?

An influencer is a person who can influence the decisions of their followers because of their relationship with their audience and their knowledge and expertise in a particular area, e.g. fashion, travel or technology.

Influencers often have a large following of people who pay close attention to their views. They have the power to persuade people to buy things, and influencers are now seen by many companies as a direct way to customers’ hearts. Brands are now asking powerful influencers to market their products. With some influencers charging up to $25,000 for one social media post, it is no surprise that more and more people are keen to become influencers too. If you are one of them, then here are five tips on how to do it.

1. Choose your niche

What is the area that you know most about? What do you feel most excited talking about? Find the specific area that you’re most interested in and develop it.

2. Choose your medium and write an interesting bio

Most influencers these days are bloggers and micro-bloggers. Decide which medium – such as your own online blog, Instagram or Snapchat – is the best way to connect with your followers and chat about your niche area. When you have done that, write an attention-grabbing bio that describes you and your speciality area in an interesting and unique way. Make sure that people who read your bio will want to follow you.

3. Post regularly and consistently

Many influencers post daily on their social media accounts. The more you post, the more likely people will follow you. Also, ensure that your posts are consistent and possibly follow a theme.

4. Tell an interesting story

Whether it is a photo or a comment that you are posting, use it to tell a story that will catch the attention of your followers and help them connect with you.

5. Make sure people can easily find your content

Publicise your posts on a variety of social media, use hashtags and catchy titles and make sure that they can be easily found. There is no point writing the most exciting blogposts or posting the most attractive photographs if no one is going to see them.

Most importantly, if you want to become a social media influencer, you need to have patience. Keep posting and your following will gradually increase. Good luck!

A travel guide

Whether you're travelling to the islands or the mountains of Thailand, you're likely to spend at least one night in its capital city on the way. Bangkok might be noisy and polluted but it's also an exciting city with plenty of things to see and do. Why not make it a longer stay?

 

Where to stay

The Khao San Road was a famous traveller spot even before Leonardo di Caprio's character in the film The Beach stayed there. But it's noisy, not very pretty and not very Thai. For something more authentic, Phra Kanong offers an alternative place to stay, with its fantastic street markets where everyday Bangkok people eat, work and live. It's not as convenient for the main tourist sites, but it has a Skytrain station so you can be at the Grand Palace in 20 minutes.

 

How to get around

Bangkok's traffic can be a nightmare. Sure, you can easily take a taxi – if you want to spend hours stuck in traffic jams – but there are two much better ways to get around the city. To explore the temples and historical sites, catch an express boat river taxi or a longtail boat along the Chao Phraya river and the canals. For the modern part of the city, the Skytrain is a fast, cheap way to travel from the river to the shopping malls and nightlife of Sukhumvit, and the famous Chatuchak street market.

 

Where to eat

The simple answer is: everywhere! Thai street food is among the best in the world, and for around $5 you can eat a filling and delicious meal. Some food stands have little plastic seats where you can sit and eat and they cook the same dish over and over, like fried chicken on rice or Pad Thai noodles. Head for Chinatown – Yaowarat Street – and choose whatever looks most interesting from the many excellent Chinese and Thai restaurants and food stands.  

 

What to do

After you've seen the main sites like the Giant Buddha at the temple of Wat Pho and the spectacular Grand Palace, and shopped at Chatuchak market, check out the snake farm and watch the live snake show. You can even touch a snake yourself if you want to!

Money weakens your ability to enjoy life’s little pleasures

Money weakens your ability to enjoy life’s little pleasures

There has long been perceived link between money and happiness. Many people dream of the life they could lead if they won the lottery – a world of mansions, fine restaurants, and first-class travel. But few consider the costs. These fineries could lead to so much enjoyment that would no longer be able to appreciate life’s simpler pleasures, like a walk on a sunny day or the taste of a bar of chocolate.

25.- ____

Jordi Quoidbach from the University of Liege showed that richer people aren’t as good as appreciating everyday pleasures as poorer people. Even the mere thought of money can make us take mundane joys for granted. Normal people who were reminded about wealth spent less time appreciating a humble bar of chocolate and obtained less enjoyment from it.

26.- ____

Perhaps this is because money both gives and takes away: it opens doors to new pleasures, while making delights that were already accessible seem less enticing. Obsessing over wealth is like being on a treadmill – continuously running to stay in the same place emotionally. To begin with, Quoidbach asked 351 university employees, from cleaners to senior staff, to complete a test that measured their ability to feel positive emotions. Each recruit was asked to put themselves in a detailed pleasant scenario, from finishing an important task to discovering an amazing waterfall on a hike.

27.- ____

Using other questionnaires, Quoidbach also assessed how happy they were, how much money it would take to live their dream life. And as a final twist, half of the questionnaires included a picture of a large stack of euros, while the other half saw the same picture that had been blurred beyond recognition. He found that the more money the recruits had, the worse they were at appreciating their positive emotions.

28.- ____

In fact, the recruits also tended to be slightly happier the more money they had. Other studies have found the same trend, but Quoidbach’s important result is that money would have had a far greater impact on the volunteers’ happiness were it not for its negative effect on their ability to enjoy.

29.- ____

Two researchers kept an eye on them and not only timed their eating, but rated how much enjoyment they were showing. The results were clear – the recruits who saw the money took 32 seconds to eat the chocolate, significantly less than the 45 seconds spent by the others. And on average, their happiness rating, as judged by the observers, was considerably lower than their peers.

30..- ____

However, having money reduces the odds that people will actually spend in this way! Dunn has also found that money is better used to buy happiness if it’s spent on experiences rather than goods. In both experiments, a simple reminder of wealth weakened people’s ability to appreciate life’s smaller pleasures. That’s a striking result and Quoidbach explains it best himself. “One need not actually visit the pyramids of Egypt or spend a week at the legendary Banff spas in Canada for one’s ability to enjoy to be impaired,” he writes. “Simply knowing that these peak experiences are readily available may increase one’s tendency to take the small pleasures of daily life for granted”.

A.- Quoidbach found that a person’s ability to appreciate was unrelated to their desire of money. And even suggesting the thought of money, by showing them the euro picture, had the same negative effect, dampening their reactions to the happy imaginings.

B.- Moreover, the negative impact of wealth on individuals ability to appreciate undermined the positive effects of money on their happiness. We experimentally exposed participants to a reminder of wealth and produced the same negative effect on their ability to enjoy as that produced by actual individual differences in wealth.

C.- Of course, there’s only so far you can take the result of these questionnaires. A more objective experiment would be better, and that’s exactly what Quoidbach did. He asked 40 students to volunteer for a taste test. They were given a binder that included a questionnaire about their attitudes toward chocolate. On the opposite page, apparently for an unrelated study was a picture of either money or a neutral object. Afterwards, all they had to do was eat a chocolate.

D.- Quoidbach’s study helps to make sense of a trend in psychological research, where money has and incredibly weak effect on happiness. Once people have enough to buy basic needs and rise out of poverty, having extra cash has little bearing on their enjoyment of life.

E.- This idea of wealth as a double-edged sword is widely held and while it’s easy to suggest that it springs from jealousy, a new set of experiments support the idea.

F.- These studies are part of a growing body of research showing that the link between money and happiness is more complicated that we might imagine. Elizabeth Dunn, who worked with Quoidbach, has previously shown that money can buy happiness if it’s spent on others.

G.- Afterwards, they were quizzed in detail about how they would react to the scenarios, to see how strongly they enjoyed the experiences.

The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. Engaging in social media is a routine activity that has been shown to benefit young people by enhancing communication and social skills. Social media sites such as Facebook offer multiple opportunities for connecting friends and people with shared interests. In recent years, the number of young people using such sites has increased dramatically, with many logging on more than ten times a day. In addition, a large proportion of teenagers now own mobile phones, so a large part of their social and emotional development is occurring while they are on the internet or on mobiles. Because of their limited capacity for self – regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, young people are at some risk as they experiment with social media. Research indicates that there are frequent online expressions of offline behaviours, such as bullying and clique – forming, that have introduced problems such as cyberbullying. Other problems that merit awareness include internet addiction. Many parents today use technology incredibly well and feel comfortable with the programs and online venues that their children are using. Nevertheless, for various reasons, some may find it difficult to relate to their digitally smart youngsters. Such parents may lack a basic understanding of these forms of socialization, which are integral to children’s lives. Frequently, they do not have the technical abilities or time needed to keep pace with their children in their ever-changing internet habits. In addition, these parents often lack a basic understanding that children’s online lives are an extension of their offline lives. The result can be a knowledge and skill gap, which creates a disconnect in how these parents and their children relate. Social media sites allow young people to accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, and exchanging ideas. Older students also use social media to connect with one another on school work. For example, Facebook allows students to gather outside class to exchange ideas about assignments. Some schools successfully use blogs as teaching tools, which has the benefit of reinforcing skills in written expression and creativity. Adolescents are also finding that they can access online information about their health concerns easily and anonymously. Excellent health resources are increasingly available to youth on topics such as stress reduction. However, because of their young age, adolescents can encounter inaccuracies during these searches and may require parental involvement to be sure they are using reliable online resources, interpreting the information correctly, and not becoming overwhelmed by what they are reading. Using social media becomes a risk to adolescents more often than adults realise. Most risks fail into these categories: peer – to – peer; lack of understanding of online privacy issues; and the influences of advertisers. Although “online harassment” is often used interchangeably with the term “cyberbullying”, it is actually different. Research suggests that online harassment is not as common as offline harassment, and participation in social networking sites does not put most children at risk of online harassment. Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens, and can have profound emotional effects. Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called “Facebook depression”, defined as depression that develops when youngsters spend a great deal of time on social media sites and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression. The intensity of the online world is thought to be a factor that may trigger depression in some adolescents. As with offline depression, young people who suffer from Facebook depression are at risk of social isolation and sometimes turn to risky internet sites for “help”. The main risks to young people online today are each other, risks of improper use of technology, lack of privacy, or posting false information about themselves or others. These types of behaviour endanger their privacy. When people go onto websites, they can leave evidence of their visits. This ongoing record of online activity is called the “digital footprint”. One of the biggest threats to young people on social media sites is to their digital footprint and future reputations.  Young people who lack an awareness of privacy issues often post inappropriate material without understanding that “what goes online stays online”. As a result, future jobs and college acceptance may be put in jeopardy by inexperienced clicks of the mouse.

Gapped text

Choose which of the paragraphs (A-G) fit into gaps (1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

Small talk at the First Tuesday Club.

In retrospect, wearing the red sticker was a mistake. As a journalist, I technically had no right to it – red stickers were supposed to be for bankers – but, once I’d put it on, people seemed to want to talk to me. They came in pairs. Keen young business people with the next Big Idea. Online petfood? Two-hour shirt delivery? They pinned me to the wall, slipped their business cards into my pocket an pushed business plans into my hand. With a red sticker, I was their man, their ticket to a fortune, and all they needed was a quick hit. Say 10 million or so.

27.- ____

At matchmaking club of more than 40,000 members, First Tuesday takes wannabe entrepreneurs and, with a little luck an hard work, aims to make them millionaires. Upon arrival, entrepreneurs are given green stickers, the bankers with funds to hand out read stickers and everyone else – lawyers, salesmen, consultants and journalists – yellow stickers.

28.- _____

A fashion for meetings like these grew from the spirit of entrepreneurs that blossomed around the internet in the late 1990s. The computer network that for 30 years had been the exclusive club of a few physicists suddenly became available to the rest of us when a young Englishman named Tim Berners-Lee invented a way to share documents and pictures between users. In a move never properly acknowledged, Berners-Lee did something special: he gave the technology away for free and the World Wide Web was born.

29.- _____

The theory is enticing: anyone with anything to sell, from carpet weavers in Peru to English steelworks, can reach the whole world with just a simple website. Outsource – in other words, get someone else to worry about – your delivery problem and a multi-million pound business can be run from your bedroom.

30.- _____

Indeed, size would be a disadvantage in the new economy. Why incur the cost of building a network of stores when a website, a warehouse and a way to deliver are sufficient? The problem was that anyone with an interest in the internet was unlikely to know anything about venture capital and, even if they did, the venture capitalists were not interested in technobabble speaking geeks.

31.- _____

So, in October ten years or so ago, some entrepreneurs held a party. They realized putting people with ideas in the same room as people with money, shutting the doors could be the recipe for something special. It was an instant success. The casual atmosphere took away the pressure from both sides and now anyone with an idea, no matter how crazy, could meet as many bankers as they could handle It an evening. Within months, First Tuesday events were appearing everywhere. Now First Tuesday is the traditional rite of the first meeting are long since up and running today’s attendees are the rest of us.

32.- _____

Then the lucky ones will be emailed back with details of the next get-together and their invite to untold riches.

A.- Then, as now, the bankers didn’t quite understand these people. They’d help them, but they didn’t want them in the house. What was needed was neutral territory – somewhere for the two camps to meet, where neither would feel overwhelmed.

B.- Put them all in the same room, dim the lighting, add canapes and cocktails, and a few inspirational speeches to set the mood, then sit back and let nature take its course.

C.- The popularity of the evenings and the number of people with business plans is such that the green-stickered hopefuls forever outnumber the red-stickered bankers. Sticker hunting is the new blood sport and many red stickers try to hide their true identity.

D.- No need for expensive shops, no need for hundreds of employees, no need for middlemen to eat into your profits. With everyone’s shopfront restricted to the size of the PC screen, there is no advantage in being a global giant.

E.- Anyone can apply – the student with his loan cheque for capital; the pensioner with a clever idea; the mad, the bad and the just plain hopeful – all they have to do is log on to First Tuesday’s website, register their interest and wait.

F.- She was a precocious child. From a handful of particle physics notes in December 1990, the Web grew to more than a billion pages in less than a decade. As with all things human, it wasn’t long before people began to see that the Web offered more than a vast global library: maybe you could make money too. E-commerce was about to begin.

G.- It was the First Tuesday of last month when, like every month, thousands of hopeful people converged, clutching business plans in sweat-stained folders, on venues in more than 50 cities around the world. They were there to get rich. They were there for First Tuesday.

New year, new me by Matt Simpson

New year, new me by Matt Simpson

1.- Today is January 1^st – a good day to start my new life! Some people talk about changing their lives, but they don’t do anything. I’m not going to talk about changing my life. I have a list of things I want to do and I’m going to do all of them.

2.- What am I going to do first? Well, I usually get up, go to work, come home, have dinner and watch TV until it’s time to go to bed. I never do any sport. From tomorrow, I’m going to get up early every day and go for a run. I’m also going to use the swimming pool at the gym after work.

3.- I’m not going to stay at home every evening. I’m going to visit the college and get some information about language courses. I’m interested in Japanese. I also want to do a cookery class. I don’t know how to cook and I just eat in restaurants or buy pizzas. At the weekend, I go home to my mum for meals!

4.- I spend a lot of money on clothes, but I’m not going to buy any more. I’m going to put the money in the bank. My girlfriend and I want to travel and see new places. We’re planning to leave our jobs in September and travel around the world.

5.- Those are my plans. What are you going to do to change your life this year?

Yaz's mail

Hi Gerard,

 

Thanks to your email – it was good to hear from you.

 

I started university here in Bristol six weeks ago and now it’s going really well. The university is fantastic and Bristol’s an exciting city. It’s also an expensive city. I’d like to find a job in a shop next year because I really need some money!

 

As you know, I’m studying IT. It’s a very interesting course and the teachers are good. There’s lots of work to do but there are also lots of things to do in my free time. I’m learning to dance and I can now play volleyball quite well.

 

I’m making some new friends here. Simon and Annette are really nice. I met Simon at my dance class. He’s a language student and he can speak Italian and German very well. He’s also a good dancer and he helps me in the lessons. Annette is studying IT and we met in the university bookshop on the first day. We often study together in the evening.

 

The people here are really nice, but I miss my family at home and I miss my friends too.

 

Write again soon!

 

Best wishes,

Yaz

GODFREY, Rachel (2018) Empower A1 Starter Workbook. It's a fantastic city in 11C Skills for Writing. Cambridge University Press: Dubai. Page 67.

 

Some current research by staff of the Department of Music

A

Bernice Mitchell is engaged in researching law-court records from London in the first half of the 18th century, for the light they throw on the city's professional music world of the time. While the materials are familiar to legal researchers, this is thought to be the first time that their relevance to the history of music has been recognised. One objective of the research is to provide guidance on access to the materials and on their interpretation, in the expectation that more scholars will be encouraged to investigate this fascinating resource. To date, Mitchell 's research has concentrated on the opera houses, and the documents have yielded considerable new insights into numerous issues, including their management, contracts with singers, musicians and composers, their working conditions, and performance fees. Mitchell is about to broaden her research, to include a detailed comparison between the 18th- and 21st-century conditions in which opera houses flourished - or not, as the case may be.

B

James Rowe's project is being carried out in collaboration with London's Science Museum. Visitors are asked to participate in a series of experiments designed to yield information about the effect of music on the perception of time passing, and so far, more than 800 people have taken part. Participants listen to a piece of music, and are then asked about its duration and their responses to it, including enjoyment and familiarity. They are also asked about personal details, including their musical preferences and level of musical training, if any. Preliminary findings indicate that people who enjoy the music think it lasted longer than those who dislike it. In a follow-up experiment, visitors are asked to memorise a list of random words while listening: this appears to have the effect of shortening the perceived duration of the music. Some of the findings are in line with current theories in psychology about the perception of time, while others appear to contradict them. The results of the research will be published next

year.

C

The topic that Colin Saunderson has chosen for his current research is the creative milieu of Paris in the early 20th century when musicians, painters, sculptors, intellectuals and many others contributed to a ferment of creativity that left its mark on all concerned. Although the topic has already been well researched, a recently discovered archive of unpublished letters is proving a mine of information on the response of the common man and woman - the concert audiences - to the immense creativity they observed. It is also adding some surprising detail on the mannerisms of several famous musicians. The research takes into account amateur music-making at that time, and the use of music in plays. Saunderson hopes the volume he is engaged in writing will provide a more nuanced view of that world than many of the existing studies. One section will quote extensively from the letters, with the extracts presented on a month-by-month basis. The intention is that this will give the reader a sense of history unfolding in front of their eyes.

D

Ray Hutchinson has published numerous books and  articles on the physical and psychological demands of music-making, and in his latest research, he is focusing on how musicians manage the daily challenge of making ends meet, and the influence of career insecurity on their way of life. Many of those who are not on the payroll of a permanent orchestra or music college Iive a hand-to mouth existence, all too often forced to supplement their meagre and sporadic income by working in ways that will allow them to take time off when the musical engagements come in; for example, Hutchinson interviewed a professional flautist whose bread-and-butter job, rather incongruously, is as a butler who can be hired by the day! Hutchinson's aim is not only to discover the survival strategies that musicians employ, but also to share tips and resources, in order to help them to maximise their professional opportunities.

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, at the Granary Theatre

You are going to read four reviews of a production of Shakespeare's play Hamlet. For questions 37-40, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.

 

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, at the Granary Theatre 

Directed by Carol Barlow, starring Paul Mason as Hamlet

 

A

Carol Barlow has come up with a great number of ingenious devices to distinguish her production of Hamlet from the thousands that have gone before. I just wasn't sure how they fitted together to make a coherent whole, and would have been happier with fewer notions, better thought through. Perhaps Barlow's intention was to hold up a mirror to the fragmentary nature of today's world, and if so, she could be said to have succeeded. Paul Mason, playing the role of Hamlet for the first time, certainly delivers his lines thrillingly, the range and resonance of his voice contributing in no small measure. Yet it remained a performance: his gestures and mannerisms kept reminding us that we were watching an actor. As the final curtain fell, I realised I knew the character of Hamlet no better than I did at the beginning.

 

B

Hamlet is a complex character, which gives scope for many different interpretations. However, there needs to be internal consistency: arbitrarily hugging another character one minute and ignoring them the next tells us nothing about Hamlet himself. Paul Mason seems to want to impress us with all the vocal tricks in his repertoire - and there are many - but long before the final curtain, I wished the character had been killed off in Act 1. As director, Carol Barlow seems to have brainstormed ideas for the production, thrown them up in the air, and let them fall at random. The result is a mishmash that for some unfathomable reason is set in the 1920s. Productions of Hamlet often reflect the spirit of the age, so a number of modern versions focus on notions of mental disorder, but Barlow's production tells us nothing about Shakespeare's own time, or about today's world.

 

C

Paul Mason isn't an obvious choice to play Hamlet - he's too old, and his acting is idiosyncratic; yet somehow he pulls it off. His quirks and eccentricities convey the depth of Hamlet's despair, and his need to present a mask to the world. Initially I found his delivery mannered, but it soon drew me in, and immersed me in the character's predicament and his fractured personality. By the end, I could have gone on listening to him for hours. However, Mason was the redeeming feature of the evening. Barlow continually gives the audience new and highly distracting things to think about. For instance, she sets Hamlet in the 1920s, and the costumes, gorgeous though they are, hardly lend themselves to carrying a sword, as many of the characters do. It just made the setting neither modern nor of Shakespeare's own time, or even of the time of the historical Hamlet.

 

D

How can an audience be made to see a play as well-known as Hamlet with fresh eyes? Director Carol Barlow has met the challenge with astonishing bravura. By moving it into the 1920s, she shows the universality of the play's themes, despite the distraction provided by the stunning costumes. Similarly, Barlow's sheer inventiveness teeters on the brink of confusing us and overwhelming the play, but just stops short. My jaw dropped as one mind-boggling and exhilarating idea succeeded another. But Paul Mason's Hamlet! Why on earth did Barlow choose him for the part? As a comic character, he might get away with his over-the-top facial expressions, but as Hamlet he made it impossible for the audience to sympathise, let alone identify, with him. His delivery was a parody, with neither intonation nor stress bearing any relation to the meaning of Shakespeare's lines.

 

Which reviewer…

37.- shares reviewer B's opinion regarding the production's relevance to the present day?_____

38.- holds a different opinion from the other reviewers as to whether Masan gives insight into the character of Hamlet?_____

39.- has the same view as reviewer C on the way Masan speaks?_____

40.- has a different view from reviewer A about the director's ideas for the production?_____

 

O’Dell, Felicity (2015) Advanced Trainer. 2^nd edition. Reading and Use of English Part 6 Test 5. Cambridge University Press: Dubai. Page Pages 158 and 159.

'I've been here before': the déja vu feeling

You are going to read the introduction to a book about déja vu. For questions 31-36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

 

'I've been here before': the déja vu feeling

 

Most people - two out of three, according to surveys - have experienced déja vu (French for 'already seen'). It is that weird sensation of having 'been here before ' or having 'Iived this moment already'. You may be visiting some entirely unfamiliar town, for instance, and 'realise' that you have already been in that precise spot, even though you know itis impossible. The feeling goes way beyond any vague sense of having seen or done something similar before - it feels identical to a past experience. Yet trying to pin down the memory is like trying to catch a dream - just as you think you are homing in on it, it turns to vapour. The eeriness of this has led to all sorts of spooky theories. A popular one is that itis the memory of a dream in which the person has lived through the current moment in advance. In recent years, however, neuroscientists have discovered enough about perception and memory to piece together a more plausible explanation.

 

Every conscious experience we have is 'constructed' by our brain out of lots of different components, rather as a car might be made in a factory. We tend to think of an event as a bundle of sensations: sight , sound, etc., but there is actually much more to it. If you (literally) bump into someone in the street, for example, you will be aware of the sight of them, the touch of them as you bump, the sound each of you makes, and so on. But you will also be aware of the meaning, tone and intention of the sound, the pain from the bump, a sense of irritation or embarrassment; a thought, perhaps, that you, or the other person, is clumsy, and so on. There is much more to experience than simple sensations.

 

One very important 'component' that often gets added is a sense of familiarity. This is generated in the deep part of the brain that creates emotions. The sense of 'Ah yes! I recognise this!' usually only gets attached to experiences which 'match' stored memories. Sometimes, though, the part of the brain which generates the feeling of familiarity attaches it to an experience that is actually quite novel. This is what seems to happen in déja vu. The brain then tries to dig out matching memories, but of course they aren't there - hence the maddening feeling of chasing shadows.

 

For most people, déja vu is a rare and fleeting phenomenon, intriguing rather than disturbing. And it doesn't seem to be unhealthy - indeed , déja vu is most commonly reported by people who are young, intelligent and well-educated. Given that it is actually a minor brain malfunction, this may seem strange. The explanation may be that young brains are more 'recognition sensitive', so they are more easily triggered into familiarity mode. Similar sensitivity may also be a factor in intelligence - bright people 'see things' more readily than others, and intelligent people tend to go on to higher education. So déja vu may be a side effect of having a brain that is quick to recognise things.

 

For an unfortunate few, though, déja vu is a constant companion, and a serious blight on their lives. Dr Chris Moulin is a psychologist who is studying this strange disorder. He first came across it when he was working in a memory clinic: 'We had a peculiar referral from a man who said there was no point visiting the clinic because he'd already been there, although this would have been impossible. Déja vu had developed to such an extent that he had stopped watching TV because it seemed to be a repeat. He even believed he could hear the same bird singing the same song in the same tree every time he went out.

 

For an unfortunate few, though, déja vu is a constant companion, and a serious blight on their lives. Dr Chris Moulin is a psychologist who is studying this strange disorder. He first came across it when he was working in a memory clinic: 'We had a peculiar referral from aman who said there was no point visiting the clinic because he'd already been there, although this would have been impossible. Oéja vu had developed to such an extent that he had stopped watchingTV because it seemed to be a repeat. He even believed he could hear the same bird singing the same song in the sametree every time he went out

 

31.- What point does the writer make about déja vu in the first paragraph?

A) Scientists tend to disbelieve people who claim to have had the experience.

B The experience is more common than scientists are prepared to admit.

C) Many previous attempts to explain it were based on unscientific beliefs.

D) Some evidence of a non-scientific cause cannot be disproved.

 

32.- Why does the writer mention manufacturing a car?

A) to indicate that our experiences are more complex than we realise

B) to suggest that many of the experiences people have are similar

C) to show that different experiences tend to consist of the same components

D) to emphasise the role of other people in the experiences we have

 

33.- According to the third paragraph, déja vu seems to be caused by…

A) emotions that are normally linked with different experiences becoming confused.

B) an experience arousing an emotion which is Iinked with similar previous experiences .

C) the brain failing to distinguish between different emotional responses.

D) a feeling of recognition mistakenly being Iinked with a new experience.

 

34.- According to the fourth paragraph, déja vu is probably caused by…

A) a person's lack of patience.

B) the level of education that a person achieves.

C) a useful attribute of some people's brains.

D) the environment in which some people are brought up.

 

35.- Chris Moulin gives the example of a man…

A) whose experience of déja vu could not be treated.

B) who thought that actual and potential experiences duplicated previous ones.

C) who blamed television for making his condition worse.

D) who found the familiarity of his experiences somewhat comforting.

 

36.- What advice does the writer give to people who frequently experience déja vu?

A) to avoid situations where there is a risk of experiencing déja vu

B) not to trust others until they have evidence that they will not be exploited

C) to check with people they meet whether or not they have met previously

D) not to commit themselves to something on the basis of its apparent familiarity

 

O’Dell, Felicity (2015) Advanced Trainer. 2^nd edition. Reading and Use of English Part 5 Test 5. Cambridge University Press: Dubai. Pages 155 and 156.