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ODF1_Unit_2_Reading_practice_L1

The document discusses how many people's earliest memories may not be true, using the author's own experience of learning to ride a bike as an example. A survey revealed that nearly 40% of participants had false earliest memories, often shaped by imagination over time. The author reflects on the emotional impact of discovering that cherished memories may not accurately represent reality.

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Margaux VEILLON
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4 views2 pages

ODF1_Unit_2_Reading_practice_L1

The document discusses how many people's earliest memories may not be true, using the author's own experience of learning to ride a bike as an example. A survey revealed that nearly 40% of participants had false earliest memories, often shaped by imagination over time. The author reflects on the emotional impact of discovering that cherished memories may not accurately represent reality.

Uploaded by

Margaux VEILLON
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Reading practice – Level 1

1 Look at the picture and the title of the article. What do you think the article is about?
Check (✓) a or b. Then read the article and check your answer.
a It is about why things we think we remember may not be true.
b It is about how our brain works to store the memories we have.

2 Read the article. Choose the correct answers.


1 What does the writer say about her memory of learning to ride a bike?
a She didn’t like falling off.
b She chased after her dog on the bike.
c She had to practice a lot.
2 In what way is the writer’s memory of learning to ride a bike incorrect?
a She learned to ride the bike very quickly.
b She never had a bike when she was a child.
c She had a dog, but it didn’t chase her bike.
3 Which of the following statements about the survey is false?
a They asked a lot of people to describe a first memory.
b The survey took place quite recently.
c They showed people photos to help them remember things.
4 What information told researchers that a memory could not be true?
a The age of the volunteer when they formed the memory.
b The lack of details in the volunteer’s descriptions or stories.
c The fact that other people in their family didn’t remember the story.
5 How did the writer feel when she discovered that her first memory was not true?
a She was excited.
b She was disappointed.
c She was angry.

Reflect
3 Write about a memory from your early childhood. Choose from the options or write your own.
Do you think your memory is completely true? Why? / Why not?

An Early Memory
I was at home / at school / in the park / on vacation / . I was with my
friends / parents / grandparents / . I remember playing /
watching / meeting / . I was
years old at the time.

I think my memory is true / false / because

1 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE


Reading practice – Level 1

Are Our
Earliest
Memories
Actually
Real?
When I was very young – about three years old – my parents bought me my first bike. I spent days
trying to learn to ride it. Then, after hours and hours of practice, I stopped falling off and I was
cycling, faster and faster, with my dog chasing after me. It’s my earliest memory and I remember it
really clearly, but actually, it isn’t completely true.
Recently, my mom told me that she and dad didn’t buy me a bike until I was seven, that I learned
to ride it really quickly – in minutes, not days – and that back then, we didn’t have a dog. I was
shocked, but I now know that there was no need to be surprised because a lot of our earliest
memories aren’t true.
Not long ago, researchers carried out one of the largest surveys of people’s first memories and
discovered that the earliest memories of nearly 40% of people are false. In the survey, the researchers
asked volunteers to give details of their first memory and to say how old they were at the time.
The memory couldn’t be based on an old photograph or a family story. It had to be from direct
experience. When they looked at the volunteers’ descriptions and stories, they discovered that
many of them were memories of events that happened when people were only two or three years
old. These memories could not be true because, in the opinion of many experts, our minds are not
able to remember and record things that happen to us until we are at least three and a half years
old.
When researchers told the volunteers that their memories were not true, they often found it
difficult to believe, and some were angry. That’s because, over time, we use our imaginations to
tell and retell the story of our memory until it becomes a very real thing. To many people, it was
disappointing to hear that their memory was wrong. Their memory was important to them. It was
like losing a friend. That’s how I feel. I still think about how exciting it was to ride a bike for the
first time, but I know that what I remember isn’t what really happened.

1 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE

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