READING
You are going to read part of a magazine article about psychology. For questions 1-8, choose the
answer (A,B,C or D) which you think fits best according to the text. Justify your answers.
Many religious and philosophical traditions have
spoken of the benefits of living in the present moment
but, until recently, there has not been much scientific
evidence to support this advice. Now, a study by
psychologists in the USA has shown that if we learn to
live in the now we can be happier. According to the
study, the problem is that we spend nearly half our time
thinking about something other than what we are
doing.
How did the Harvard scientists arrive at this
conclusion? Of course, it is not possible to measure
happiness by simply observing people. When
researchers want to look into a question such as this
they have to rely on their subjects' ability to look at
their thoughts and emotions and then be able to say
what they are feeling. That would be relatively easy if
you planned to study only a small number of subjects
but in a project like this involving several thousand,
things become rather more complicated.
To be able to reach as many people as possible,
the psychologists designed a new mobile phone
application that sent volunteers text messages at
various times during the day. They were asked what
they were doing and then told to rate their happiness
on a scale from zero to one hundred. They also had to
say whether they were concentrating on what they
were doing or daydreaming about something positive,
negative or neutral. 'We never anticipated getting so
many responses,' says Matthew Killingsworth, one of
the main researchers on the team. 'People are naturally
concerned about this issue but I doubt that they would
have been so keen to take part if we had tried to
interview them on the street or sent out online
questionnaires. The mobile phone application was the
key. '
The study produced one surprising result.
Although activities that demanded people's full
attention like exercise and conversation made them
happiest, even the most engaging tasks failed to hold
their full attention. Volunteers admitted to thinking
about something else at least thirty percent of the time
even if they were doing something they enjoyed. People
were least happy when working, resting or using a
home computer because it was then that their minds
wandered more. In fact they reported being distracted
for as much as forty-six percent of the time.
Julia Wilson, one of the volunteers who took
part in the study, found it helpful. 'I had no idea just
how much time I spent daydreaming. The first couple of
days it seemed that whenever a message arrived I was
actually thinking about something else. One afternoon, I
was playing tennis when a message came in. I had been
missing even very easy shots and my serves kept going
out. It was the message that woke me up and made me
focus on the match instead of an overdue assignment I
had at college.'
The psychologists say that happiness was more
affected by how often people drifted off than by the
activity they were doing at the time. But couldn't it be
that we daydream so much because we are unhappy?
The Harvard team say that this is not the case.
Remembering, thinking ahead or imagining things tend
to make people more miserable, even when they are
thinking about something pleasant. This is what
convinces the researchers that we become unhappy
because we think too much and not the other way
round.
So how can we overcome the problem? It seems
that we might not want to. 'The unique human ability to
focus on things that are not happening right now allows
us to reflect on the past and learn from it. It also helps
us anticipate and plan for the future,' said Killingsworth.
If we could not do this, we probably wouldn't survive.
So our wandering minds benefit us some of the time.
The trouble is we also let them make us unhappy.
1 What is important about the American study?
A It confirms the results of previous studies.
B It gives actual statistics to support its results.
C It proves that most people are unhappy.
D It identifies a major cause of unhappiness.
2 It is quite difficult to investigate happiness because
A people do not really know how they feel.
B people may look happy when they are not.
C people do not like to talk about their feelings.
D people are reluctant to take part in scientific studies.
3 How did the researchers feel about the way they
conducted their survey?
A confident that their results were correct
B disappointed by the way people responded
C amazed that so many people agreed to take part
D uncertain about why their methods were successful
4 What surprised researchers when they examined the
results of the study?
A People didn't often concentrate even if they were
enjoying themselves.
B People spent more time daydreaming when they were
working.
C Working and resting made people equally unhappy.
D People were not thinking about what they were doing
most of the time.
5 Why did Julia Wilson find taking part in the study
helpful?
A It taught her something she didn't know about
herself.
B She started to feel happier.
C It made her remember some important college work.
D Her tennis skills improved.
6 What does this (in paragraph 6) refer to?
A That what you are doing makes you unhappy.
B That feeling sad makes you drift off into fantasy.
C That thinking about the past makes you unhappy.
D That people's minds wander all the time.
7 Changing the way our minds work may not be a good
idea because
A we enjoy daydreaming.
B we find thinking about the present is boring.
C we need the ability to think about the past and the
future.
D we think of it as one of our special human
characteristics.
8 The purpose of the article is to
A describe how happy people think.
B indicate the best way to conduct research.
C encourage more people to take part in surveys.
D show the connection between daydreaming and
unhappiness.
 SCANNING

INSTANCE OF…
present simple
present continuous
present perfect
past simple
past continuous
past perfect
comparative adjective
passive voice in the past
superlative adjective
non-defining relative clause
past continuous interrumpted by past simple
zero conditional
second conditional
third conditional

VOCABULARY
an adverb
to gradually fall asleep (past) / phr v
to trust or depend on sth or sb /phr v
to investigate /phr v
to be involved in an activity / phr v
worried / adj
eager / adj
full / adj
not done by the time expected / adj
not to succeed / v
to successfully control a feeling or problem that prevents
you from achieving sth / v
to walk around without a clear purpose / v
 REPORTED SPEECH
“We never anticipated getting so many responses,” said Matthew said …
Matthew.

The psychologists say that happiness was more affected “Happiness…

by how often people drifted off than by the activity they
were doing at the time.

PASSIVE VOICE
How did the Harvard scientists arrive at this conclusion?

We never anticipated getting so many responses.

The psychologists designed a new mobile phone

application that sent volunteers text messages at various
times during the day.
The study produced one surprising result.

'The unique human ability to focus on things that are not

happening right now allows us to reflect on the past and
learn from it.
So how can we overcome the problem?

So our wandering minds benefit us some of the time.

 REWRITING
Many religious and philosophical traditions have spoken of Although
the benefits of living in the present moment but, until
recently, there has not been much scientific evidence to
support this advice.
However

People were least happy when working, resting or using a due

home computer because it was then that their minds
wandered more.
It was the message that woke me up and made me focus What
on the match instead of an overdue assignment I had at
college.
The psychologists say that happiness was more affected less
by how often people drifted off than by the activity they
were doing at the time.
The Harvard team say that this is not the case. According