Why being born is stimulating and using too
The theme of the first article in the first set of topics of IELTS 13 is "boredom". There are six paragraphs in the article, which respectively introduce the difficulties of defining and characterizing "boredom", the classification of "boredom", the different views on this emotion, the relationship between personality and it, and the source and countermeasures of a new sense of "boredom". The following is the translation of each paragraph.
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Research and discussion on boredom of Cambridge IELTS 13 Test 1 Passage 2
Why being born is stimulating and using too
Cambridge IELTS 13 Test1 Passage2 Reading original translation
Paragraph A
We all know how it feels – it’s impossible to keep your mind on anything, time stretches out, and all the things you could do seem equally unlikely to make you feel better. But defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult. For a start, it can include a lot of other mental states, such as frustration, apathy, depression and indifference. There isn’t even agreement over whether boredom is always a low-energy, flat kind of emotion or whether feeling agitated and restless counts as boredom, too. In his book, Boredom: A Lively History, Peter Toohey at the University of Calgary, Canada, compares it to disgust – an emotion that motivates us to stay away from certain situations. ‘If disgust protects humans from infection, boredom may protect them from “infectious” social situations,’ he suggests.
We all know this feeling - unable to focus on anything, the time becomes extremely slow, and everything seems unable to make us feel better. But it has proved very difficult to define boredom so that it can be studied in the laboratory. First, it contains many other mental states, such as depression, indifference, depression and indifference. People even dispute whether "boredom is always a low-energy, flat emotional state", or whether "restlessness and restlessness are regarded as boredom". Peter Toohey of the University of Calgary, Canada, compared it with disgust (an emotion that drives us out of a specific situation) in his book Boredom: A Living History. He said: "If people are disgusted with protecting themselves from infection, boredom may protect them from the" infectious "social situation.
Paragraph B
By asking people about their experiences of boredom, Thomas Goetz and his team at the University of Konstanz in Germany have recently identified five distinct types: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant and apathetic. These can be plotted on two axes – one running left to right, which measures low to high arousal, and the other from top to bottom, which measures how positive or negative the feeling is. Intriguingly, Goetz has found that while people experience all kinds of boredom, they tend to specialise in one. Of the five types, the most damaging is ‘reactant’ boredom with its explosive combination of high arousal and negative emotion. The most useful is what Goetz calls ‘indifferent’ boredom: someone isn’t engaged in anything satisfying but still feels relaxed and calm. However, it remains to be seen whether there are any character traits that predict the kind of boredom each of us might be prone to.
By asking people about their boring experiences, Thomas Goetz of the University of Konstanz in Germany and his team recently defined five different types: indifference, vacillation, expectation, stress response and indifference. These types can be placed in two axes: one from left to right, representing emotional arousal from low to high; The other is from top to bottom, indicating the positive or negative degree of emotion. Interestingly, Goetz found that although people experience a variety of boredom, they often focus on one of them. Among the five types, the most destructive one is "stress response" boredom. It combines the explosive power of high stress response and negative emotions. The most useful type is what Goetz calls "indifferent" boredom, that is, someone does not engage in any satisfying activities, but still feels relaxed and calm. However, whether there are some personality characteristics that can predict which type of boredom we are more inclined to remains to be studied.
Paragraph C
Psychologist Sandi Mann at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, goes further. ‘All emotions are there for a reason, including boredom,’ she says. Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative. ‘We’re all afraid of being bored but in actual fact it can lead to all kinds of amazing things, ’ she says. In experiments published last year, Mann found that people who had been made to feel bored by copying numbers out of the phone book for 15 minutes came up with more creative ideas about how to use a polystyrene cup than a control group. This article is from Laokaoya website. Mann concluded that a passive, boring activity is best for creativity because it allows the mind to wander. In fact, she goes so far as to suggest that we should seek out more boredom in our lives.
Sandi Mann, a psychologist at Lancaster Central University in the UK, went further. "All emotions exist for a reason, and boredom is no exception," she said. Mann found that boredom can make us more creative. We are all afraid of being bored, but in fact, it can lead to all kinds of wonderful things. In the experiment published last year, Mann found that, compared with the control group, the articles of the subjects who were asked to copy 15 minutes' numbers from the phone book to get bored were from the old roast duck IELTS who put forward more creative ideas on how to use a polystyrene cup. Mann concluded that boring activities are most conducive to creativity because they allow thinking to spread. In fact, she even suggested that we should always look for more boredom in life.
Paragraph D
Psychologist John Eastwood at York University in Toronto, Canada, isn’t convinced. ‘If you are in a state of mind-wandering you are not bored,’ he says. ‘In my view, by definition boredom is an undesirable state.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t adaptive, he adds. ‘Pain is adaptive – if we didn’t have physical pain, bad things would happen to us. Does that mean that we should actively cause pain? No. But even if boredom has evolved to help us survive, it can still be toxic if allowed to fester.’ For Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is a failure to put our ‘attention system’ into gear. This causes an inability to focus on anything, which makes time seem to go painfully slowly. What’s more, your efforts to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse. ‘People try to connect with the world and if they are not successful there’s that frustration and irritability,’ he says. Perhaps most worryingly, says Eastwood, repeatedly failing to engage attention can lead to a state where we don’t know what to do anymore, and no longer care.
John Eastwood, a psychologist at York University in Toronto, Canada, was not convinced. He said, "If you are in a state of divergent thinking, then you are not bored. In my opinion, boredom is by definition a bad state.". This does not necessarily mean that it cannot be adapted, he added. "Pain can be adapted - if we can't feel physical pain, bad things will happen. Does this mean that we should actively trigger pain? No. But even if boredom has evolved to help us survive, it is still harmful if we let it develop". For Eastwood, the core feature of boredom is that our attention system cannot work properly. This leads to our inability to focus on anything, making time seem painfully slow. In addition, efforts to improve the situation may actually make you feel worse. "People try to connect with the world, and if they fail, they will feel frustrated and irritable," he said. Eastwood believes that perhaps the most worrisome thing is that repeated failure to focus will lead to a state of not knowing what to do and no longer caring.
Paragraph E
Eastwood’s team is now trying to explore why the attention system fails. It’s early days but they think that at least some of it comes down to personality. Boredom proneness has been linked with a variety of traits. People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly. Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are associated with a high boredom threshold. More evidence that boredom has detrimental effects comes from studies of people who are more or less prone to boredom. It seems those who bore easily face poorer prospects in education, their career and even life in general. But of course, boredom itself cannot kill – it’s the things we do to deal with it that may put us in danger. What can we do to alleviate it before it comes to that? Goetz’s group has one suggestion. Working with teenagers, they found that those who ‘approach’ a boring situation-in other words, see that it’s boring and get stuck in any way -report less boredom than those who try to avoid it by using snacks, TV or social media for distraction.
Eastwood's team is now trying to find out why the attention system fails. Although it is too early, they believe that at least part of the reason can be attributed to personality. Boredom tendency has been associated with a variety of personality traits. People driven by happiness seem particularly bad. Other personality traits, such as curiosity, are less likely to be boring. More evidence of boredom comes from studies of people who are more or less inclined to boredom. Generally speaking, it seems that those who are easily bored have a worse prospect in education, career development, and even life. But of course, boredom has no negative impact on itself - it is the things we do to deal with it that may put us in danger. What can we do to alleviate it before it reaches this level? Goetz's team gives the following suggestions to stay with teenagers. They found that those who were "close" to boredom - in other words, those who thought they were bored but still stuck in it - were less bored than those who tried to avoid boredom by distracting themselves with snacks, television or social media.
Paragraph F
Psychologist Francoise Wemelsfelder speculates that our over-connected lifestyles might even be a new source of boredom. ‘In modern human society there is a lot of overstimulation but still a lot of problems finding meaning,’ she says. So instead of seeking yet more mental stimulation, perhaps we should leave our phones alone, and use boredom to motivate us to engage with the world in a more meaningful way.
Psychologist Francoise Wemelsfelder speculates that our over connected lifestyle may become a new source of boredom. "There are a lot of over stimulation in modern human society, but there are still many problems in finding meaning," she said. Therefore, instead of seeking more spiritual stimulation, perhaps we should put mobile phones aside and use boredom to promote us to establish more meaningful connections with the world.
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Cambridge IELTS 13Test1Passage3 Reading original translation Artificial artists
