SUMMARY: HOW TO WALK AWAY

Reading task: How to Walk Away

A lot of people find it very hard to admit they were wrong; they made a bad decision or investment. This is called the sunk costs fallacy and there are three reasons for it: we have no alternative, we can’t face our family or friends or we hate sunk costs. However, throwing good money after bad – prevention focus – just increases the misery and other negative effects. Instead one should remember that it is never too late to give up and move on – promotion focus.

85 words

Provided by the Oracle

SUMMARY PRACTICE:MOUNTAIN POPULATIONS

Related reading task: “Mountain Populations Offer Clues to Human Evolution”; level ** reading tasks, the first task

People moving to high altitudes suffer the effects of lower levels of oxygen. Although the body responds to cope, this effort is inadequate. People habitually living at high altitudes however, exhibit genetic differences resulting in biological changes, which in turn enable them to live comfortably at high altitudes.

48 words
Provided by: The Oracle

COMBINED SUMMARY OF THE FOLLOWING THREE TEXTS

   Student ‘Addiction’ to Technology ‘Similar to Drug Cravings’, Study Finds 

·         Twitter and Facebook ‘Addicts’ Suffer Withdrawal Symptoms

·         Toddlers Becoming so ‘Addicted’ to İPads They Require Therapy

Addiction to technology is a modern phenomenon including toddlers as well as adults. Denial of access to gadgets causes withdrawal symptoms similar to those of alcoholics and drug addicts in all age groups and a host of social problems especially in young children. These children find it difficult to form healthy relationships later in life. The quality and depth of adult conversations suffer too along with daily chores.  Although social networking is now a fact of life and those with no accounts are called vagrants of the digital age, moderation in the use of technology is advised.

97 Words

Provided by: The Oracle

SUMMARY:NO MORE EXECUTIVE BONUSES

Reading activity with the same title:  reading tasks

The bonuses given to CEO’s of companies, which have reached incredible sums, should be abolished to guarantee the future of the company, to prevent the wrong people from becoming leader,to provide equity and to encourage teamwork.

36 words

Provided by: The Oracle

THE REAL MESSAGE

Reading related essay: “Dear American Consumers: Please don’t start eating healthfully. Sincerely, the Food Industry”

The food industry is an enormous sector generating huge profits all over the world. Like any other business, the profit motive is front and center. In order to make a profit, they need to get consumers to by the products. They do this by targeting basic human desires for salty, sweet and fatty food because they appeal to the same pleasure centers in the brain cocaine does. All the most popular foodstuffs in the supermarkets fall into one or all of these categories; what is more they are highly addictive as binge eaters will verify. Potato crisps, nibbles of all kinds, chocolates, readymade cakes, sauces, mayonnaise and ice cream are just as addictive as alcohol. The problem for the food industry is that people are becoming more health conscious and worried about their health. There is a lot of media attention on obesity and how to prevent it. There is also a lot being written about healthy eating. The New York mayor recently banned large sugary drinks in an effort to combat the problem. All this has the food industry worried as a shift in demand will mean that the greengrocers win hands down and the food industry will suffer huge losses. No business wishes to go bankrupt. 
Provided by: The Oracle

SUMMARY: IS WORK KILLING YOU?

Reading related summary activity

Stress in the workplace is very common and there are three major reasons: the amount of work that needs doing, the pace and abuse in the form of bullying, harassment or simple office politics. These problems are really very easy to fix with the right approach on the part of employers who need to see that making employees happier is in the long term interest of the company. Happy and rested employees are more efficient, which increases productivity and profits. What should be done is hire more workers, introduce flextime and flexplace, reduce electronic communications and deal with the bullies.

100 Words

Provided by: The Oracle

SUMMARY PRACTICE: PEER PRESSURE FOR TEENS PAVES THE WAY TO ADULTHOOD

As they reach adolescence, kids like discover their environment, form a new circle of friends and seek out new experiences. This tendency increases the influence of peer groups and decreases the authority of parents. Peer groups can encourage especially kids who are highly socially anxious to develop bad habits like drinking but can also be very advantageous. Kids can learn to take part in useful activities, overcome fears or try challenging activities thanks to peer pressure. Peer pressure and learning to deal with it also helps develop self reliance. In order to prevent future problems, parents should start vetting friends and maintaining a dialogue with their children starting early on.

110 Words

Provided by: The Oracle

SUMMARY PRACTICE: THE SCIENCE OF GENIUS

Reading related activity: “The Science of Genius” 

A genius is described by some as a person with a high IQ and by others as someone with exceptional achievements also. It is to this latter view that the writer adheres citing many examples of geniuses with incredible achievements and the case of the woman with the highest IQ ever measured who has no achievements to speak of. Geniuses have a wide range of interests and hobbies and don’t just remain focused on their specialty. They owe their talents not only to nature but also to nurture. Two features observed in geniuses, superfluity the ability to generate ideas but then discard them if they appear useless, and backtracking, returning to a previously discarded idea, seem to be common traits in all geniuses from physicists to artists proving there is a genetic component to genius as well. Geniuses do need to acquire expert knowledge in their field as well but their advantage is that they can do it much faster. On the down side, the same gene that triggers genius seems also to increase the propensity for psychological disorders which many geniuses suffer from. More studies are needed into the nature of genius to see whether ordinary people can be encouraged to become exceptional achievers too.

206 Words

Provided by: The Oracle

SUMMARY TASK: THE SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS

ocial intelligence is of vital importance for the survival and welfare of a species. Research has confirmed that social intelligence has a hormonal basis and ensures that each member of the species has distinct sense of self and an awareness of the distinct sense of self of others. Social intelligence enables grief and empathy, both of which are the social glue of societies. It also allows for the transmission of information, discoveries and innovations. Social intelligence is also observed to greatly enhance the physical and emotional well being of species. Social intelligence has been discovered to exist in both various animal species as well as humans proving that we share more than we imagined with other mammals and birds.

119 Words

Provided by: The Oracle

THIEVES SHOULD NOT BE JAILED

Summary

Reading text: “Thieves should not be jailed, says law expert” 

Professor Ashworth states that those criminals who are not actually violent and don’t target individuals should be required to compensate the victims and do community service so that they can be regained to society and because it is fairer. Imprisonment as the most serious punishment should be reserved for the most serious offences. Asworth’s policy would reduce prison populations, be more economical and reduce the number of reoffendors.

80 words

Provided by: The Oracle

Paragraph

Reading text: “Thieves should not be jailed, says law expert”

For centuries, punishment has been seen as society’s revenge on the criminal; as retribution to teach him a lesson and prevent him from reoffending. This method of dealing with offendors has been found to be impractical and counterproductive. It is impractical because it causes prison populations to swell and is expensive. It has, therefore, been suggested that those who commit pure property offences should not be incarcerated but made to compensate the victim and do community service. Only criminals who actually target individuals should be sent to prison.  This is a very practical and sensible option from the point of view of the state, the perpetrator and the victim. The former would be able to cut expenses and benefit from the community service, the second would not become a more violent offendor as he would not be imprisoned along with murderers and sadists and be less likely to reoffend, the latter would benefit from the compensation. The community service does need to be very carefully managed though and careful checks of how well the system works. Society no longer sees punishment as an act deserving of revenge but an ill that should be remedied in a way that benefits both society and the victim. This being the case, community service should be given careful consideration.

Provided by: The Oracle

WHAT MAKES US INTELLIGENT?

 By Tom Stafford

The effect of technologies on our brain and intelligence pushes us to ask whether knowing something is the same as having access to the information. A popular theory suggests people are “cognitive misers” in that they avoid mental work in favor of taking short cuts. Furthermore, people often experience a phenomenon called “change blindness” in which even extreme changes in the environment go unnoticed. Instead of revealing a deficiency, these phenomena actually reflect mental efficiency. People are “natural born cyborgs” in that they incorporate new tools, ideas, and abilities. This is further illustrated in something called “transactive memory”, in which people rely not only on their own memory but also on the pooled information in technologies and even individuals around them. This suggests that our intelligence is based, in part, on coordinating with other people and our surroundings.

138 words

Provided by: Nick O’Gara

SAMPLE SUMMARY: WHY OUR IQ LEVELS ARE HIGHER THAN OUR PARENTS'

Source: Ted Talks

The previous 100 years have seen a dramatic rise in the relative IQ levels of ordinary people, leading some to ask if newer generations are more gifted. Instead of a true rise in intelligence, however, what we see is a shift based on the demands of a more complex and cognitively demanding world which necessitates the mental habits of clothing the concrete in classification, using logic on abstraction, and taking the hypothetical seriously. The demands requiring this shift include education focused on science (and hence hypothesizing), a higher number of cognitively demanding careers, and an upgrade in the complexity of already existing professions. This shift has unexpected benefits in that using abstraction on universals enables moral debate. In spite of this obvious advantage, ahistorical generations may continue to make the same mistakes as previous generations.

135 words

Provided by: Nick O’Gara

SUMMARY: SNOOZERS ARE, IN FACT, LOSERS

By Maria Konnikova

Location: Level ** reading tasks

The first alternative: The long version

Suggestion: study both summary tasks carefully and see how they relate to the original text.

The take home point: It is possible write summaries of varying lengths for the same text

When we hit the snooze button, instead of gaining a few more minutes of sleep, we are actually slowing down the wake-up process by taking ourselves right back to the beginning of the sleep cycle. If we wake up too early or suddenly from this cycle, we can experience sleep inertia, the deceptively gradual period between sleeping and waking in which we feel groggy. Cognitive faculties, decision-making, and our ability to perform simple tasks are all inhibited in a process that takes far longer than many expect. Our natural sleep cycle is based on our circadian rhythm, or the amount of external natural light and the setting of our internal alarm clock. Social jet lag is the difference between the time we actually wake up and the most optimal and natural time for us to do so, and its effects reveal the importance of sleep timing rather than simple duration. Social jetlag can not only  lead to higher use of alcohol, cigarette, and caffeine use but also to cancer and other chronic diseases. People could avoid these negative effects and eliminate social jet lag and sleep inertia by synchronizing their sleeping patterns more closely with natural light patterns. (198 words)

The second alternative: the short version

When sleep is not synchronized with natural light patterns, people experience sleep inertia: a difficult and gradual period between sleeping and complete wakefulness characterized by grogginess. The difference between our natural sleep cycle and the time we actually wake up is called social jetlag, a phenomenon that many experience which can lead to serious and negative health effects. All this shows that snooze buttons, and perhaps alarm clocks in general, do more harm than good. (75 words)

Both of these brilliant summaries have been written by our summary guru; Nick O’Gara