Exam I5 LV

Complete each sentence with a word from the box. 

Choose a word from the box to complete each sentence. Not all words will be used. 

The Art of Memory 

A We all try to remember certain things in our daily lives: telephone numbers, email addresses, facts that we learn in class, and important tasks. We use memory techniques like repetition – the idea that the more we repeat a piece of information, the better we can recall it. But did you know that memory training goes all the way back to the days of ancient Greece?

B People began to value memory as a skill about 2,500 years ago. That’s when the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos came up with a powerful technique known as the loci method. Simonides realized that it’s easier to remember places and locations than it is to remember lists of names. According to the loci method, if you think of a very familiar place and visualize certain things in that place, then you can keep those things in your memory for a long time.

C Simonides called this imagined place a “memory palace.” Your memory palace can be any place that you know well, such as your home or your school. Here’s how to use the loci method to remember a list of tasks: Let’s say your memory palace is based on your house. Visualize yourself walking through it. Imagine yourself doing each task in a different room. Later, when you want to recall your list of tasks, visualize yourself walking through your house again. You will remember your list of tasks as you see yourself doing each one.

D In the 15th century, an Italian man named Peter of Ravenna used the loci method to memorize books and poems. He memorized religious texts, 200 speeches, all of the laws of that time, and 1,000 poems. By using the loci method, he was able to “read” books stored in his memory palaces. “When I travel, I can truly say I carry everything I own with me,” he wrote.

E When Simonides and Peter of Ravenna were alive, most people did not have books or pens to write notes with. They had to remember what they learned. In her book titled The Book of Memory, Mary Carruthers writes about these memory techniques of the past. She explains that ancient people considered memory to be a great virtue. A person with a good memory was special because they could help preserve the society’s cultural heritage.

F After Simonides developed the loci method, other people continued to study the art of memory. Memorization gained a complex set of rules and instructions. Students of memory learned what to remember and techniques for how to remember it. In fact, memory training is still an important activity in many parts of the world today. In some cultures, memorizing religious texts is considered a great achievement. Other cultures value people who can tell myths and folktales from the past, as there is often no written record of these things.

G Over the past millennium, though, many things have changed. We’ve gradually replaced our internal memory with external memory. We’ve invented devices so we don’t have to store information in our brains. We now have photographs to record our experiences, calendars to keep track of our schedules, and the Internet and computers to store our ideas. As a result, we’ve gone from remembering many things to remembering very little. Nowadays, when we want to know something, we just look it up. But how does this affect us and our society? Did we lose an important skill?

Read the passage before. Then read each question and choose the correct answer. 

16. What is the main purpose of the passage?

17. What is the basis for the loci method?

18. What is an example of a “memory palace”?

19. According to the passage, what might be a reason that Peter of Ravenna memorized texts?

20. Which of these is NOT given as an example of memorization in Paragraph F?

21. Which of the following is an example of external memory?

22. Which of these statements would the author most likely agree with?

Vocabulary Memory Techniques 

Language learners often struggle to remember new vocabulary, but there are several techniques that can help them remember words better.

Repetition and Drill 

Some learners benefit from repeating new vocabulary frequently. They use flash cards or lists to review unfamiliar words and memorize their meanings. As they learn new items, they focus on the ones they still don’t know.

Listen and Say 

Some students spend time in language labs listening to their new language on headsets. After they hear a word or a phrase, they repeat it so they can learn to pronounce it.

Visualization 

Learners who have a strong visual sense use mental images that link with certain words. In French, nouns have genders and learners have to learn whether a noun is masculine (le) or feminine (la). If they imagine two cars decorated like a man and a woman, they can remember that la voiture is feminine and l’auto is masculine.

Connect with Known Words 

Psychologists believe that the best way to insure that new words go into long-term memory is to connect them with a word you already know, perhaps a similar word in your first language. For example, an Arabic speaker learning the English word market can connect with merkez, a word with a similar meaning in Arabic.

Collocation and Chunking 

Vocabulary specialists point out that we frequently use words in association with other words, so it’s natural to try to remember two collocated words – like “strong impact” – together. To go even further, learn phrases or clusters of words that often occur together such as “greatest lifetime achievement” when thinking of a Nobel prize winner.

Sleep Learning 

Although many commercial claims for learning in your sleep lack real proof, a recent study shows the value of reviewing words just before going into deep, non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep at the beginning of the night. For the technique to be effective, you need to play a recording of the same words for the first few hours of deep sleep.

Study Groups 

Some learners find it most effective to work collaboratively with other learners in groups where everyone participates. By reading their notes, discussing and actively using new vocabulary, they are using several senses to store new vocabulary into their memory.

Each person has their own learning style, so experiment with some of the techniques to find the ones that suit you best.

Read the passage before. Then match each example of the memory technique in the sentences below with the letter of the technique. 

In each sentence, there is an underlined phrase. Decide whether it is the cause or the effect. Write the answer like this: “Cause/Effect“

Write the gerund form of the verb in parentheses. 

Look at the outline and notice the missing parts. Then match each sentence (a – e) with a suitable part of the outline. 

In each pair of sentences, one sentence has an error. Choose the sentence that is correct by writing in CAPITAL LETTER A or B in the space. 

Think about how memory techniques can help you learn English. Write a paragraph with three techniques you could use. 

46. Give an example for how you would use each technique. Consider making an outline before you start writing.

Remember the important parts of a paragraph:

•  a topic sentence
• two or three main ideas
• details to support each main idea
• a concluding sentence