CAE Reading and Use of English Part 6
You are going to read four reviews a book about how empathy might be considered a sixth sense. For questions 37-40, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.
Empathy – our sixth sense?
A
The belief that humans possess a sense in addition to the five we are aware of is by no means new or revolutionary. Far from it. The proponents of a ‘Sixth Sense’ have a conviction that since scientists cannot yet understand the function of a significant part of our brains, that there must be a sixth sense hiding in there somewhere. In this, they are rather similar to those who insist that because the universe is so vast, there simply has to be life beyond Earth. In her book ‘Empathy- sixth sense?’ Anna Dawlish deals with the possibility that the ways human beings understand and identify with others’ emotions may potentially hold the answer to the question of that extra sense. In that, I applaud her thinking. However, for me the research was not sound, and I found myself confused by a sea of anecdotal evidence. Her link between intuition and empathy could have been better made, and the logical structure of the book seemed flawed to me. I remained unconvinced that reading the book had been a good investment of my time.
B
My immediate reaction to reading ‘Empathy – sixth sense?’ was one of relief. It appears that there might be a specific reason for what people have labelled ‘my extreme sensitivity’. I’ve long mocked my own tendency to cry easily, described my discomfort in crowds and preference for solitude as phobic, and considered my physical reactions to others’ injuries as squeamish and a weakness. Dawlish has allowed me to reconsider this self-assessment by maintaining that we all have a threshold for empathising with others, and that some, like yours truly, have a low one – basically, I identify with others’ feelings, etc. more than most people do. It is good to read about a topic that people actually haven’t considered before, and the book is well-constructed and easy to follow, but I do wonder however whether she goes too far (certainly out on a limb as far as other psychologists are concerned) when she speculates that this characteristic is in some way linked to a sixth sense. It seems to me that although offering some convincing evidence for her claims that this is something slightly more than a personality trait, to give extreme empathy this title is awarding it too much significance.
C
There seems to be a fashion these days to attribute certain behaviour to our genetic make-up and while I admit that there are some conditions that warrant this, for the most part, giving scientifically official sounding names to things that are simply elements of people’s characters irritates me considerably. ‘Empathy – sixth sense?’ by Anna Oawlish is an example of one such trend in my estimation. We all know the meaning of empathy but to suggest that it could be considered a sixth sense is simply, in my view, a clear-cut attempt to get a book on the best-sellers list. I would perhaps be less irritated if Ms Dawlish had written a book that clearly presented her ideas, with a logical progression. Instead, her writing takes the reader off on tangents and, in particular, her chapter on hunches seems disconnected from the main thrust of her arguments. In spite of my being an overly sensitive person, there is no way I could consider myself to have a sixth sense. The idea is, unfortunately, laughable.
D
‘Empathy – sixth sense?’ takes us through some fascinating interviews with people who have a high level of empathy, and who, according to the writer, are ultra-sensitive to the feelings and intentions of others. This publication is just the most recent in a long line of many on the popular topic of empathy, but differs from the rest in terms of its central premise that extreme empathy can be considered a sixth sense. While I can understand that empathy can explain in psychological terms the idea of hunches and intuition and removes the psychic element, the book has been compiled without any proper scientific studies and as such cannot be seen as adding anything relevant to that search for a sixth sense which intrigues so many of us. While doing little to satisfy this quest, I found the book engaging which was mainly due to the colourful characters whose experiences are documented.
Which reviewer …
37 holds a different view from the others regarding whether empathy may be considered a sixth sense?
38 disagrees with reviewer C about how the book develops?
39 has a similar view to reviewer D about the proof offered in the book for the theories stated?
40 has a similar view to reviewer C about the book reflecting current public interest?
CAE Reading and Use of English Part 7
You are going to read an extract from a magazine article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A – G the one which fits each gap (41-46). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
Tell me a story!
Sita Brand is recounting the tale of how story-telling came to be in her blood, and as one might expect of a professional story-teller, she is doing a pretty good job of it.
41 …
It’s a dismally wet and chilly evening at the arts and music festival in North Yorkshire, where I first find Brand. She has been booked to tell rounds of stories – children’s fairytales during the afternoons and some darker, more ghostly recountings after dusk – but has suffered some unexpected nocturnal goings-on herself, her tent having filled up with rainwater the previous night. Yet, in keeping with the festival mood, she seems stoical as we squelch through a custard-like mud swamp.
42 …
She has lived and worked in several parts of England but most recently in Settle, the Yorkshire town beloved of walkers and railway enthusiasts but not hitherto known for its story-telling scene. In the four years since moving there, however, she has worked energetically to change that, establishing her own business, as well as founding an annual story-telling festival. But why here?
43 …
Not that her yearning came entirely without precedent. ‘The most exciting thing,’ she says, ‘is that I recently discovered that my mother’s side of the family came from this area. So, deep down inside I was always a Yorkshirewoman!’ She laughs. Having worked on and off as a story-teller for several years, Brand conceived the idea for the Settle Storytelling Festival as a way of establishing herself professionally in the area.
44 …
Before settling there she’d found work with Common Lore, a company of story-tellers and musicians. Later, she branched out and worked variously as an actor, writer, director and producer. She’s travelled a lot doing different things, but she admits, ‘In my heart, I’ve always loved stories and storytelling.’
45 …
This was a deliberate move on Brand’s part to get across her conviction that story-telling should not just be aimed at children. ‘When you look at books of traditional stories, they’re called folk tales,’ she says, raising her voice above the thudding jazz-rock bass emanating from beyond the tent. ‘They’re literally tales for the folk. That’s all of us.’ This year she says there will be more events specifically laid on for kids, ‘but the emphasis is very much on the oral tradition, about stories being passed down from generation to generation.’
46 …
Brand says many of her own stories were themselves passed on from family members, that she has then changed and reworked. ‘The way I tell it today might be different to the way I tell it tomorrow or the day after.’ Through that process, like a Chinese whisper, she says a story is refined and shaped in different directions.
A In addition to this, she thought she would be doing something that would genuinely add to the town’s mix. ‘When I moved there, shops were closing down in the recession. I felt it was a way to combine my passion and bring other artists together as well as to do something useful for the community. Which it did.’
B With a couple of hours to kill before her evening performance of ghost stories, she leads me over to the infinitely more convivial surroundings of the Hungry Elephant Café tent where Brand continues to explain how she reached this point in her life.
C ‘I’ve always loved stories and story-telling ever since I was a little girl,’ she recalls. ‘I remember I always wanted to be the one who read out the story, to the point where my mother said to me, ‘Isn’t it time you just wrote your own?’ I grew up in Bombay, and in India there’s always some cultural festival taking place and there’s always a story behind it.’
D Afterwards we troop into the darkness. From the conversations outside, it’s apparent that many of those in the tent have returned for the second night running, many people went thinking they’d just go to one event but found themselves attending several. Why? ‘That’s just about the simple pleasure of listening to a good yarn.’
E Part of that meandering took her back to India and to Southeast Asia, touring with a show based partly on her own upbringing in India, and which she staged successfully again in Settle soon after relocating there. To the surprise of many local people though, the Settle festival’s first incarnation was pitched mainly at an adult audience.
F As an example, she points out that many of the classic stories told today have evolved over many ages and through countless retellings, in many lands. ‘Take Cinderella,’ she says. ‘There’s a Vietnamese version and various North African versions, a North American version, a European one .. .’ She smiles. ‘I like that.’
G Bombay to Yorkshire might seem an unlikely path to tread but for Brand – with an English mother and a South Indian father – it is the fulfilment of a dream. Her introduction to Yorkshire came about ten years ago on a trip to look up old family friends, ‘I just fell in love with the place; I thought, this is where I want to live,’ she says.
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