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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

SUPER
MEMORY
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1 Warm-up

Do you know anyone that has a very good memory for past events? What can they remember?

2 Key vocabulary

Match the words on the left to their definitions on the right.

1. a detail a. a health problem, e.g the flu

2. a memory b. an experiment with lots of tests to learn about something

3. ability c. a very short period of time

4. a brain d. one of lots of pieces of information about something

5. a seat e. something that you remember

6. a moment f. something you sit on

7. a study g. the part of the body inside the head

8. an illness h. the skill to do something

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SUPER MEMORY

3 Find the information

You are going to read an article about a woman who has a very powerful memory. Choose the best
option for each of the questions below, then scan the text on the next page to find the answers.

1. How old was Rebecca Sharrock in her earliest memory?

a. when she was 12 days old b. when she was one month c. when she was one year old
old

2. How many people in the world have this illness?

a. 10 b. 80 c. 200

3. What can she remember every word of?

a. The Lord of the Rings books

b. The Hunger Games books
c. The Harry Potter books

4. What does Sharrock say she remembers doing for the first time when she was 18 months old?

a. talking b. walking c. dreaming

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SUPER MEMORY

Woman with rare illness can remember every detail of her

life
Rebecca Sharrock’s first memory is from when she was 12 days old

1.
An Australian woman can remember everything that on her first birthday; and a Minnie Mouse soft toy
happened to her since she was a newborn baby. that really scared her. Sharrock says she remembers
2.
Rebecca Sharrock, 27, from Brisbane, Australia, is one that she started to dream when she was 18 months
of 80 people in the world who has the rare illness. old.
She has a very powerful memory, and can remember 7.
To help people understand the human memory
very small details from her life such as what presents better, Sharrock is taking part in two different studies
she got on her first birthday. Sharrock can also keep with scientists in the US and Australia. She hopes
a lot of information in her brain, which means she can that the work will help many people with memory
remember every word of the Harry Potter books. problems.
3.
However, people with this ability can also experience 8.
Sharrock isn’t the only person with this ability to
painful memories, often about break-ups or when share her story. Alexandra Wolff, a 25-year-old from
friends or family died. Maryland in the US, told NPR (National Public Radio)
4.
In a post with the title "I can remember back to when in an interview that the illness feels like "time travel".
I was a newborn child’, Sharrock wrote on a blog that 9.
She told the interviewer she can remember
her earliest memory is from when she was 12 days everything she hears and feels in a day, even small
old. things like a headache or feeling worried about
5.
She described how her parents carried her to the something.
driver’s seat of their car and put her down for a photo. 10.
This means Wolff can experience the happiest
She wrote that when she was a newborn child, she moments of her life again clearly, and she does this
was curious about the seat cover and steering wheel often when she is alone in her room.
above her in the car. At that time though, she didn’t 11.
"If I didn’t have stuff to do all day, I could probably
want to get up and play with these objects. live in the past 24/7," she said.
6.
Sharrock wrote about how she used to look at Adapted from the Independent, by Kashmira Gander,
her toys in her crib and the fan next to it; the
25th of April 2017
uncomfortable dress that her parents made her wear

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SUPER MEMORY

4 Checking understanding
Read the text again and put T (true) or F (false) next to each statement below.

1. Rebecca Sharrock lives in Sydney.

2. Rebecca wasn’t interested in the things in her parents’ car when she was very young.

3. Rebecca remembers that she didn’t like the dress she had to wear on her first birthday.

4. Sharrock is taking part in an experiment to learn more about people with memory problems.

5. An American woman has also talked about what it is like to have the illness.

5 Memory

Memory verbs and nouns:

remember (verb) - to think of (something or someone) again
The noun ‘memory’ has different meanings:
1. a memory (countable noun) - something that you remember
2. memory (uncountable or countable noun) - the ability to remember things
Complete the gaps below with a word from the text to make phrases. For each sentence,
decide which meaning of the word memory is used.

1. a very powerful memory (P.2)

2. memories: (P.3)
3. memory ( two words - P.4)
4. memory (two words - P.7)
5. memory (P.7)

6 Find the words

Find a word or phrase in the text which means ...

1. a child that was recently born (collocation, P.1):

2. have (something) happen to you (verb, P.3):
3. the end of romantic relationships (noun - plural, P.3):
4. a small bed for a child (noun, P.6):
5. a machine that moves the air around to make a place cooler (noun, P.6):
6. unhappy because you are thinking about bad things that could happen (adj., P.9):
7. activities that you talk about in a general way (noun - informal, P.11):

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SUPER MEMORY

7 Phrasal verbs

Match the phrasal verbs from the text to their definitions

1. put down (something) a. join an activity or event

2. look at (something) b. move your eyes to see

3. take part (in something) c. rise from your feet

4. get up d. stop carrying or holding

Now, create your sentences using the phrasal verbs.

8 Talking point

Discuss any of the questions below in pairs or groups.

1. Would you like to have Rebecca’s ability? Why/why not?

2. What things do you find easy to remember?
3. What things do you think that people can do to improve their memory?

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