IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2025 - Q3 Test 5 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Luyện tập đề IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2025 - Q3 Test 5 được lấy từ cuốn sách Forcast Test 2025 - Q3 với trải nghiệm thi IELTS trên máy và giải thích đáp án chi tiết bằng Linearthinking, kèm answer key và list từ vựng IELTS cần học trong bài đọc.
IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2025 - Q3 Test 5 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 1
Question 1 - 4
Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1
A reference to a fact that two scientists use the same technique to promote their own happiness
2
The suggestion that scientific opinion about an aspect of brain function has changed over a given time period
3
An estimate of how numerous some brain components are
4
The reason why some educational courses were set up
Question 5 - 8
Look at the following statements and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-F.
List of Findings
A
Tony Fernando
B
Richard Davidson
C
Rick Hanson
D
Judi Clements
E
Carsten Grimm
F
Nathan Consedine
5
It's better to look for a variety of ways to increase happiness than focus on just one.
6
Focusing on personal achievements rather than negative experiences will make people happier.
7
Happy people might have a reason not to display one favourable characteristic.
8
A range of groups are becoming more interested in learning techniques to improve happiness.
Question 9 - 13
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Auckland University’s Centre for Brain Research
Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery says that current research into brain activity and behaviour only relates to so Hanson's theories have not been proved correct. While scans do show that positive stimuli result in more reaching parts of the brain, this isn't proof that the brain is getting stronger.
But Montgomery is making progress. In laboratory experiments, scientists use to initiate brain activity, because it's similar to natural processes. One finding is that hormones can be compared to the because both can change human behaviour. But scientists understand some stimuli, such as, better than they understand more positive stimuli.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 2
Question 14 - 17
The text has eight paragraphs: A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct answer A-H.
14
The benefits of Tupperware in the kitchen.
15
Opposing views on Tupperware and the position of women.
16
A sales model which might spoil the friendship.
17
Worldwide availability of Tupperware.
Question 18 - 22
Match each statement with a country.
Write the letters, A-D.
List of Findings
A
Andorra
B
China
C
Germany
D
US
18
Consumers here are now less keen on the pyramid sales model
19
Tupperware buyers in this country give money to help others
20
Young women here lead the way in the purchase of Tupperware
21
The writer uses this to represent many countries
22
Just after World War II, Tupperware was established here
Question 23 - 26
Choose
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
23
Keeping food fresh is something Tupperware does well.
24
Tupperware was responsible for a negative image of women in the 1950s.
25
Rebranding in China has been unsuccessful.
26
Tupperware containers are good for the environment.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 3
Question 27 - 31
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In following statements below, choose
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
27
Young people are easily persuaded by surveys that listening to music is beneficial.
28
Different studies share the same conclusions about the desirability of working in silence.
29
Some doctors recommend wearing headphones to lower blood pressure.
30
Nathaniel Baldwin was a respected government researcher.
31
The effect of the invention of headphones is comparable to the effect of the invention of writing.
Question 32 - 36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes on your answer sheet.
32
What does the writer suggest about a service economy?
A
The work is mentally demanding
B
It provides employment for younger workers
C
It is a small part of a country's economy
D
Workers have to live in urban centres
33
When the writer mentions the historical evidence for early music, he is
A
emphasizing the diversity of musical forms.
B
expressing his frustration with the limited archaeological evidence uncovered.
C
lending support to the view that music has been important in human history.
D
creating a geographical map of the evolution of music.
34
What does the writer say about the social effects of listening to music through headphones?
A
It has caused a reduction in the number of people who listen to music
B
It has increased people's participation in music events
C
It has reduced the global variation of music styles
D
It has changed the traditional role of music in society
35
What does the writer say about personal independence?
A
Americans are unique in their desire for personal independence.
B
Personal independence is something that can be purchased.
C
Striving for personal independence is a recent phenomenon.
D
Personal independence destroys social connections.
36
Why does the writer quote Jonah Lehrer in the last paragraph?
A
To support the writer’s own view.
B
To draw attention to an authoritative book about music.
C
To raise awareness of people’s loss of listening skills.
D
To illustrate how music brings people closer to each other.
Question 37 - 40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes on your answer sheet.
Headphones and city living
Dr Michael Bull believes that listening to music through headphones has changed the the wearers of headphones have with public spaces. Living in the centre of cities is becoming popular, as people become less keen on living in the . In densely populated city centres, headphones form that isolate people from fellow citizens and from their environment. Wearers of headphones are treated with that other people do not receive. This is because if we see someone wearing headphones, we believe they must be occupied in some way and should not be interrupted.
A
courtesy
B
relationship
C
difficulty
D
countryside
E
suburbs
F
language
G
barriers
H
obstacles
I
disapproval
DOL IELTS Đình Lực
05/05/2026
📖 Bài đọc passage 1
How to be Happy
Some recent developments in the science of happiness
A
A.
Psychiatrist Tony Fernando was walking down the street when he saw a group of young homeless men sitting on the footpath. As Fernando handed out gifts of food, he tried to video the men’s reactions in his mind, recording how their gratitude lifted him in return. ‘I felt warm, content, meaningful,’ he says. Fernando believes the brain can be trained to make us happy and that his ‘video method is one way to achieve this. In fact, a growing body of scientific research internationally is showing how we can learn happiness in the same way we can learn to play the piano. In the soft tissue that forms the brain, there are approximately ten trillion synapses connecting roughly a hundred billion neurons. Active synapses become more sensitive, less active synapses die but new ones grow quickly. This is relatively new thinking - just 30 years ago, neuroscientists believed that adult brain cells couldn't regenerate. One of the pioneers in this field is University of Wisconsin professor Richard Davidson. He studied Buddhist monks using brain scans in his research facility, and found that those trained in meditation had higher levels of activity in the left prefrontal cortex - the area associated with happiness. Davidson believes that the trained brain is physically different from the untrained one.
B
The idea that we can train our brains to find more happiness has been called ‘mindfulness’ by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness. It was in college that Hanson, quite unintentionally, first recognised the importance of something that would become his life's work. As an unconfident teenager, he discovered he could turn a small event, ‘a young woman smiling at me’, into a good feeling he could hold on to. To do this, Hanson employs exactly the same imaginary ‘video method’ as psychiatrist Tony Fernando. ‘The brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon,’ says Hanson. If you keep resting your mind on self- criticism and worries, he argues, your brain will be shaped by that. Hanson explains that resting it on pleasant feelings and the things you have accomplished means that over time your brain will take on a different shape, with strength and optimism hard- wired into it.
C
In New Zealand, the Mental Health Foundation runs mindfulness programmes in 14 schools Foundation CEO Judi Elements says ‘it's a valuable approach because children are told to pay attention, but aren't told how to pay attention.’ Preliminary results on the outcomes found that children had sustained increases in well-being. The Foundation recognises five pathways to happiness - being active, connecting with others, taking notice, learning and giving. And, says Clements, ‘We’re detecting a hunger for it from different organisations and professions as well, so the Foundation is soon going to pilot an online ‘well-being game’ in sever al workplaces. The project leader is psychologist Carsten Grimm, who is interested in whether some pathways to happiness are more effective than others. In a study, Grimm recorded the activities and corresponding happiness scores of 173 people. What he found was that people who used several pathways to happiness achieved the best results, suggesting it's better to have a balance than concentrate on the single pathway you most identify with.
D
However, Associate Professor of Psychological Medicine Nathan Consedine greets our relentless search for the secrets to happiness with a tired sigh. ‘The more you chase it, the less you get it,’ he says, quoting studies showing those who value contentment and well-being are, in fact, less happy. The big questions, he says, is whether there’s any benefit in actively seeking happiness. He cites a study, for example, which showed that people who were happier were less inclined to show sympathy. Consedine says that’s probably because happy people are strongly motivated to stay happy, but engaging sympathetically with others typically involves engaging with their distress, and that’s going to reduce their own happiness. Consedine ’s not disagreeing with the theory of mindfulness, but believes there's more work to be done.
E
Some of that work is being conducted at Auckland University’s Centre for Brain Research. Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery has been studying Hanson's theory -that altering our brain activity at a synaptic level affects our behaviour. She accepts that it's a logical explanation based on studies from animals, but we haven't yet got the technology to prove it scientifically in humans. It's true that MRI scans certainly do indicate an increased flow of blood to different areas of the brain which are experiencing positive stimuli. However, she warns that this is a long way from confirming that the brain itself is developing or strengthening.
F
Nonetheless, Montgomery believes she is making progress. In the laboratory, when scientists want to experiment with synaptic connections, they stimulate the brain with electricity, as this copies the high-frequency firings that happen normally in the brain every second. Using this technique, Montgomery has made a number of findings. For example, the hormones that are released routinely in response to good or bad situations - such as adrenaline - act to regulate the brain, in the same way that weather has a regulating effect on human activity more generally. But scientists understand some of these stimuli better than others. More is known about the impact on brain activity of prolonged periods of fear than the effects of ‘happiness’ hormones that are released by positive events in life. This is one potentially important area that she hopes to investigate further in future.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 1
1
B
Giải thích chi tiết
Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Matching Information
📌 Dạng Matching Information chúng ta nên làm cuối cùng, sau khi đã làm các dạng câu hỏi khác nhé DOLBIES, bởi vì lúc này mình đã đọc và hiểu nội dung của bài rồi → sẽ nhanh chóng tìm được vị trí đáp án hơn!!
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Step 1: Phân tích câu hỏi (Matching Information)
A reference to a fact that two scientists use the same technique to promote their own happiness .
Dự đoán thông tin cần tìm (SPECIFY): đoạn đúng phải có đủ 3 mảnh:
Two scientists: phải nêu hai người (tên riêng / chức danh khoa học).
Same technique: có cụm kiểu “the same method/technique”, “similar approach”, “both use…”.
Promote their own happiness: ngữ cảnh là tự tạo cảm xúc tích cực / hạnh phúc cho bản thân (ví dụ: giữ lại good feeling, gratitude, mindfulness, pleasant feelings…).
-------
Step 2: Locate bằng chứng
Đoạn B có câu bằng chứng rõ nhất:
To do this , Hanson employs exactly the same imaginary ‘video method’ as psychiatrist Tony Fernando .
-------
Step 3: Đối chiếu paraphrasing
two scientists ⇔ Hanson + psychiatrist Tony Fernando
use the same technique ⇔ employs exactly the same … ‘video method’
promote their own happiness ⇔ ngữ cảnh ngay trước đó: turn … into a good feeling he could hold on to
⇒ Vì Paragraph Bnói thẳng “Hanson dùng exactly the same video method như Tony Fernando” trong mục tiêu tạo “good feeling”, nên match chuẩn yêu cầu câu hỏi.
-------
❌ Những đáp án “bẫy” hay dính
Bẫy đoạn A: có nhắc Tony Fernando và “video method”, nên nếu skim/scan thấy keyword “video method” dễ chọn A. Nhưng A chủ yếu kể Fernando làm gì và research về não/thiền; không có câu nêu rõ 2 nhà khoa học dùng cùng 1 technique (không có cấu trúc “the same … as …” rõ như đoạn B).
Bẫy đoạn C: nói nhiều về “pathways to happiness” và nghiên cứu hạnh phúc, nhưng không có chi tiết “hai scientists dùng cùng một kĩ thuật”.
A. Throw open anyone's kitchen cupboards from Andorra to Zimbabwe, and you'll find colourful plastic products for the preparation, serving, and storage of food. Chances are, some of these are Tupperware.
B
B. For many people in developed countries, Tupperware is redolent of the 1950s when grandma and her friends bought and sold it at 'Tupperware parties'. Some would even say Tupperware became a cultural icon in that decade. However, these days, while parties are still popular, online sales are challenging the model.
Indeed, since 2000, more Tupperware franchises have opened in China than anywhere else.
C
C.
Take the Hundred Benefits shop in Hangzhou, one of China's fastest-growing cities. Located in a chic part of town, it's full of twenty-somethings who haven't yet had a child but are building a nest. They've got plenty of expendable income, and they're picking out items to reflect their new-found optimism. China is undergoing a home-decorating revolution after years of dull, unreliable products. Furthermore, the average size of living space for urban Chinese has almost doubled recently, so there's room for lots of stuff. But why choose a Tupperware? It's functional as well as fun. It's sealable, stackable, durable, microwave-and-freezable, dishwasher-friendly, and culturally sensitive: four-layer traditional Chinese lunch boxes, revamped in bright sexy colours, grace the shelves of the Hundred Benefits shop.
D
What is the Tupperware story? The special plastic used in it was invented in 1938 by an American called Earl Tupper. The famous seals, which keep the air out and freshness in, came later. Tupper's company was established in 1946, and for more than 40 years boasted every success, but, recently, Tupperware Brands Corporation has been sold several times, and its parent company, Illinois Tool Works, has announced that declining American prospects may mean resale.
E
Until the 1990s, Tupperware relied totally on a pyramid sales model. In this, a person buys products from a person above him or her, rather than from a wholesale company or retail shop, and after-sale of the new product to a third party gives a small percentage of the money to the person from whom he or she originally bought. In turn, when the person on the lowest level recruits more vendors, those people return percentages to the person above. Initially, Tupperware operated like this because it was not available in shops. A more direct line between the manufacturer and the buyer results in cheaper products, and, as Tupperware is largely sold in the home, women suddenly have an independent income. A disadvantage might be that since people typically buy from and sell to friends, there are pressures at ordinary social gatherings to do deals, which some people may consider unethical. This raises the question: am I going for a pleasant dinner at Alison's; or am I expected to buy a set of measuring cups from her as l leave? This pyramid model is prohibited in China and has lost favour in many countries like Britain, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, where once it was all-pervasive. At present, most US sales are still on the party plan, but online and franchise sales are catching up.
F
Tupperware became fashionable after World War II. During the war, large numbers of women were in paid employment outside the home while their men were away fighting. When the men returned, the women mostly resumed their household duties. There are widely divergent views about Tupperware's role at this time. Some feminists propose that the company promulgated an image of women confined to the kitchen, making the female pursuit of a career less likely. Others say that the pyramid sales model allowed women to earn, promoting autonomy and prosperity. In particular, those who were pregnant and at home could enjoy some extra cash.
G
Effective rebranding of Tupperware has taken place in the East, but what about in America? Well, the Tupperware website there has developed a 'Chain of Confidence' programme to improve sales. In this, women reinforce the notion of female solidarity by purchasing Tupperware and swapping true stories. Over a million dollars from this programme has also been donated to a girls charity.
H
What the future holds for the pretty plastic product is uncertain. Will Tupperware become a relic of the past like cane baskets and wooden tea chests, or will online social programmes and avid Chinese consumers save the company?
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 2
14
C
Giải thích chi tiết
Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Matching Information
📌 Dạng Matching Information chúng ta nên làm cuối cùng, sau khi đã làm các dạng câu hỏi khác nhé DOLBIES, bởi vì lúc này mình đã đọc và hiểu nội dung của bài rồi → sẽ nhanh chóng tìm được vị trí đáp án hơn!!
-------
Step 1: Phân tích câu hỏi (Matching Information) The benefits of Tupperware in the kitchen .
Dự đoán thông tin cần tìm (SPECIFY)
“Benefits … in the kitchen” ⇒ đoạn đúng phải có mô tả ưu điểm/tính năng khi dùng đồ bếp, ví dụ:
Dễ đựng/bảo quản (sealable/airtight)
Xếp gọn (stackable)
Bền (durable)
Dùng được với microwave/freezer/dishwasher
Hoặc bất cứ điểm mạnh nào kiểu “convenient/functional”.
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Step 2: Locate bằng chứng
Đoạn C có đúng phần giải thích “vì sao chọn Tupperware” và liệt kê một loạt tính năng sử dụng trong bếp.
Câu bằng chứng trọng tâm trong C:
But why choose a Tupperware? It's functional as well as fun. It's sealable, stackable, durable, microwave-and-freezable, dishwasher-friendly, and culturally sensitive .
-------
Step 3: Đối chiếu paraphrasing
The benefits ⇔ functional + sealable, stackable, durable, microwave-and-freezable, dishwasher-friendly
in the kitchen ⇔ toàn bộ list trên đều là tính năng dùng khi chuẩn bị / bảo quản / hâm nóng / rửa đồ đựng thực phẩm (đúng ngữ cảnh đồ bếp)
⇒ Vì vậy, thông tin “The benefits of Tupperware in the kitchen” match chuẩn với Paragraph C.
❌ Những đáp án “bẫy” hay dính (nếu skim/scan)
Bẫy đoạn A: có “kitchen cupboards” và “preparation/serving/storage of food” nên rất dễ chọn nhầm nếu chỉ nhìn keyword “kitchen/food”. Nhưng A chỉ nói Tupperware phổ biến và được tìm thấy ở nhiều nơi, không liệt kê benefits.
Bẫy đoạn E: nói nhiều về mô hình bán hàng “pyramid sales model” và có nhắc “cheaper products”, nhưng trọng tâm là cách bán/ảnh hưởng xã hội, không phải lợi ích trong bếp như các tính năng sealable/microwave/freezable.
Whether wearing headphones at work, or in other areas of everyday life, is a good thing or a bad thing has generated a lot of research and opinion.
To visit a typical modern office today is to walk into a room with possibly a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. Up to half of younger workers listen to music on their headphones, and nearly all of them think it makes them better at their jobs. In survey after survey, people report with confidence that music makes them happier, better at concentrating, and more productive.
Scientists do not share this belief, they maintain that listening to music hurts people's ability to recall other things they should be doing, and any pop song, loud or soft, reduces overall performance for both extroverts and introverts. A Taiwanese study linked music that has lyrics to lower marks on concentration tests for college students, and other research has shown music with lyrics scrambles our brains' verbal-processing skills. 'As silence has the best overall performance, it would still be advisable that people work in silence,' another reporter dryly concluded.
The question is therefore: if headphones are so bad for productivity, why do so many people at work have them? One factor to consider is that countries like the USA have moved from a farming and manufacturing economy to a service economy, with an emphasis on jobs in offices that require higher levels of concentration, reflection and creativity. As an estimated 70 percent of office workers work in open-plan office spaces, it is more important to create one's own enclosing bubble of sound. Lending strength to the argument for headphones at work is evidence that music relaxes our muscles, improves our mood, and may even moderately reduce blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety.
The story of headphones began in 1910, when the US Navy received an odd letter written in purple ink on blue-and-pink paper. The letter writer, an eccentric inventor and repairman named Nathaniel Baldwin, from the USA state of Utah, made what at the time was an astonishing claim: he had built, in his kitchen, a new kind of headset that could amplify sound. This was an opportune invention for the Navy, who asked for a sound test and then enthusiastically adopted the headsets, later called headphones, and used them in World War I for naval radio communication.
The purpose of headphones is to concentrate a quiet and private sound in the ear of the listener, which is a radical departure from music’s social purpose in history. ‘Music, together with dance, co-evolved biologically and culturally to serve as a technology of social bonding,’ Nils L Wallin and 1 Björn Merker wrote in The Origins of Music. Songs don’t leave behind fossils, but evidence of musical notation dates back to Sumeria, 3,500 years ago, and in 1995 archeologists discovered a bone flute in southern Europe estimated to be 44,000 years old. If music evolved as a social glue for the species, as a way to make groups and keep them together, headphones have done what writing and literacy did for language – they made music private.
Author and columnist Stephen Marche wrote that separation from other people is one of the first things ordinary Americans spend their money achieving. It is 'a by-product of a long-standing national appetite for independence,' he said. Americans are not alone in their desire for personal independence and privacy. Marche is right; wealth can buy - and modern technology can deliver - personal independence, and it is this that people have always sought.
Dr Michael Bull, an expert on personal music devices from the University of Sussex in the UK, has repeatedly made the larger point that personal music devices change how we relate to public spaces. Controlling our public spaces is more important now that more people are moving from the edges of cities to live in urban centers. 'With the urban space, the more it's inhabited, the safer you feel, Bull says. 'You feel safe if you can feel people there, but you don't want to interact with them.' Headphones create shields for wearers, separating them from other people and their surroundings. Headphones have their own rules of good manners; they are like wearing a 'Do not disturb' sign. We assume that people wearing them are busy and we should respect their privacy, so now people wear them to appear busy. In fact, it is now becoming quite common for people not to listen to anything at all, but just to wear headphones.
However, as pointed out at the beginning of this piece, although scientists have stated that headphones are bad for productivity, people still wear them at work. It is not just that headphones create privacy out of public areas, but also that music causes people to relax and reflect and pause. The outcome of relaxation, reflection and pausing at work won't be captured in minute-to-minute productivity metrics. What must be considered is that in moments of extreme focus, our attention radiates outward, toward the problem, rather than inward, on how to solve the problem. However, with music, 'When our minds are at ease, we're more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward,' Jonah Lehrer wrote in his book Imagine: How Creativity Works. 'The answers have been there all along. We just weren't listening.' In a crowded world, real estate is the ultimate scarce resource, and a headphone is a small invisible fence around our minds - making space, creating separation, and helping us listen to ourselves.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 3
27
Not Given
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Yes/No/Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: Young people are easily persuaded by surveys that listening to music is beneficial
Main idea: Người trẻ - dễ bị thuyết phục bởi khảo sát → tin rằng nghe nhạc có lợi.
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “young people”, "easily persuaded", “surveys”, “listen to music", "beneficial”
→ Dựa vào các từ khoá trên -> Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “Up to half of younger workers listen to music on their headphones, and nearly all of them think it makes them better at their jobs. In survey after survey, people report with confidence that music makes them happier, better at concentrating, and more productive.”
Simplified: Younger workers listen to music & think : music makes them happier, better at concentrating, and more productive
Main idea: Người trẻ - tự tin báo cáo trong survey → âm nhạc làm họ hạnh phúc hơn, tập trung hơn, năng suất hơn => Không có dấu hiệu nào cho thấy giới trẻ "dễ bị thuyết phục bởi các cuộc khảo sát", chỉ là họ tự mình trải nghiệm hoặc tin rằng âm nhạc có ích cho họ.
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc:Bản thân những người lao động trẻ cho biết họ tin rằng âm nhạc giúp cải thiện công việc của họ=> Không có thông tin họ dễ hay khó bị thuyết phục bởi các cuộc khảo sát.
Trong câu hỏi: Người trẻ dễ bị thuyết phục bởi khảo sát rằng âm nhạc có lợi.
⇒ ✅ Chọn: NOT GIVEN
-------
Lưu ý chung:
Nếu đáp án là YES: Bài phải nói rõ ràng rằng người trẻ bị survey thuyết phục → nhưng passage không hề đề cập.
Nếu đáp án là NO: Bài phải phủ nhận rằng survey có ảnh hưởng đến người trẻ → nhưng passage cũng không phủ nhận, chỉ nói họ “report with confidence”.
Psychiatrist Tony Fernando was walking down the street when he saw a group of young homeless men sitting on the footpath. As Fernando handed out gifts of food, he tried to video the men’s reactions in his mind, recording how their gratitude lifted him in return. ‘I felt warm, content, meaningful,’ he says. Fernando believes the brain can be trained to make us happy and that his ‘video method is one way to achieve this. In fact, a growing body of scientific research internationally is showing how we can learn happiness in the same way we can learn to play the piano. In the soft tissue that forms the brain, there are approximately ten trillion synapses connecting roughly a hundred billion neurons. Active synapses become more sensitive, less active synapses die but new ones grow quickly. This is relatively new thinking - just 30 years ago, neuroscientists believed that adult brain cells couldn't regenerate. One of the pioneers in this field is University of Wisconsin professor Richard Davidson. He studied Buddhist monks using brain scans in his research facility, and found that those trained in meditation had higher levels of activity in the left prefrontal cortex - the area associated with happiness. Davidson believes that the trained brain is physically different from the untrained one.
B. The idea that we can train our brains to find more happiness has been called ‘mindfulness’ by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, author of Hardwiring Happiness. It was in college that Hanson, quite unintentionally, first recognised the importance of something that would become his life's work. As an unconfident teenager, he discovered he could turn a small event, ‘a young woman smiling at me’, into a good feeling he could hold on to. To do this, Hanson employs exactly the same imaginary ‘video method’ as psychiatrist Tony Fernando. ‘The brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon,’ says Hanson. If you keep resting your mind on self- criticism and worries, he argues, your brain will be shaped by that. Hanson explains that resting it on pleasant feelings and the things you have accomplished means that over time your brain will take on a different shape, with strength and optimism hard- wired into it.
C. In New Zealand, the Mental Health Foundation runs mindfulness programmes in 14 schools Foundation CEO Judi Elements says ‘it's a valuable approach because children are told to pay attention, but aren't told how to pay attention.’ Preliminary results on the outcomes found that children had sustained increases in well-being. The Foundation recognises five pathways to happiness - being active, connecting with others, taking notice, learning and giving. And, says Clements, ‘We’re detecting a hunger for it from different organisations and professions as well, so the Foundation is soon going to pilot an online ‘well-being game’ in sever al workplaces. The project leader is psychologist Carsten Grimm, who is interested in whether some pathways to happiness are more effective than others. In a study, Grimm recorded the activities and corresponding happiness scores of 173 people. What he found was that people who used several pathways to happiness achieved the best results, suggesting it's better to have a balance than concentrate on the single pathway you most identify with.
D. However, Associate Professor of Psychological Medicine Nathan Consedine greets our relentless search for the secrets to happiness with a tired sigh. ‘The more you chase it, the less you get it,’ he says, quoting studies showing those who value contentment and well-being are, in fact, less happy. The big questions, he says, is whether there’s any benefit in actively seeking happiness. He cites a study, for example, which showed that people who were happier were less inclined to show sympathy. Consedine says that’s probably because happy people are strongly motivated to stay happy, but engaging sympathetically with others typically involves engaging with their distress, and that’s going to reduce their own happiness. Consedine ’s not disagreeing with the theory of mindfulness, but believes there's more work to be done.
E. Some of that work is being conducted at Auckland University’s Centre for Brain Research. Associate Professor Johanna Montgomery has been studying Hanson's theory -that altering our brain activity at a synaptic level affects our behaviour. She accepts that it's a logical explanation based on studies from animals, but we haven't yet got the technology to prove it scientifically in humans. It's true that MRI scans certainly do indicate an increased flow of blood to different areas of the brain which are experiencing positive stimuli. However, she warns that this is a long way from confirming that the brain itself is developing or strengthening.
F. Nonetheless, Montgomery believes she is making progress. In the laboratory, when scientists want to experiment with synaptic connections, they stimulate the brain with electricity, as this copies the high-frequency firings that happen normally in the brain every second. Using this technique, Montgomery has made a number of findings. For example, the hormones that are released routinely in response to good or bad situations - such as adrenaline - act to regulate the brain, in the same way that weather has a regulating effect on human activity more generally. But scientists understand some of these stimuli better than others. More is known about the impact on brain activity of prolonged periods of fear than the effects of ‘happiness’ hormones that are released by positive events in life. This is one potentially important area that she hopes to investigate further in future.
Hanson
employs exactly the same imaginary ‘video method’
as psychiatrist Tony Fernando
two scientists
Hanson
psychiatrist Tony Fernando
use the same technique
employs exactly the same … ‘video method’
promote their own happiness
turn … into a good feeling he could hold on to
Take the Hundred Benefits shop in Hangzhou, one of China's fastest-growing cities. Located in a chic part of town, it's full of twenty-somethings who haven't yet had a child but are building a nest. They've got plenty of expendable income, and they're picking out items to reflect their new-found optimism. China is undergoing a home-decorating revolution after years of dull, unreliable products. Furthermore, the average size of living space for urban Chinese has almost doubled recently, so there's room for lots of stuff. But why choose a Tupperware? It's functional as well as fun. It's sealable, stackable, durable, microwave-and-freezable, dishwasher-friendly, and culturally sensitive: four-layer traditional Chinese lunch boxes, revamped in bright sexy colours, grace the shelves of the Hundred Benefits shop.
D. What is the Tupperware story? The special plastic used in it was invented in 1938 by an American called Earl Tupper. The famous seals, which keep the air out and freshness in, came later. Tupper's company was established in 1946, and for more than 40 years boasted every success, but, recently, Tupperware Brands Corporation has been sold several times, and its parent company, Illinois Tool Works, has announced that declining American prospects may mean resale.
E. Until the 1990s, Tupperware relied totally on a pyramid sales model. In this, a person buys products from a person above him or her, rather than from a wholesale company or retail shop, and after-sale of the new product to a third party gives a small percentage of the money to the person from whom he or she originally bought. In turn, when the person on the lowest level recruits more vendors, those people return percentages to the person above. Initially, Tupperware operated like this because it was not available in shops. A more direct line between the manufacturer and the buyer results in cheaper products, and, as Tupperware is largely sold in the home, women suddenly have an independent income. A disadvantage might be that since people typically buy from and sell to friends, there are pressures at ordinary social gatherings to do deals, which some people may consider unethical. This raises the question: am I going for a pleasant dinner at Alison's; or am I expected to buy a set of measuring cups from her as l leave? This pyramid model is prohibited in China and has lost favour in many countries like Britain, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, where once it was all-pervasive. At present, most US sales are still on the party plan, but online and franchise sales are catching up.
F. Tupperware became fashionable after World War II. During the war, large numbers of women were in paid employment outside the home while their men were away fighting. When the men returned, the women mostly resumed their household duties. There are widely divergent views about Tupperware's role at this time. Some feminists propose that the company promulgated an image of women confined to the kitchen, making the female pursuit of a career less likely. Others say that the pyramid sales model allowed women to earn, promoting autonomy and prosperity. In particular, those who were pregnant and at home could enjoy some extra cash.
G. Effective rebranding of Tupperware has taken place in the East, but what about in America? Well, the Tupperware website there has developed a 'Chain of Confidence' programme to improve sales. In this, women reinforce the notion of female solidarity by purchasing Tupperware and swapping true stories. Over a million dollars from this programme has also been donated to a girls charity.
H. What the future holds for the pretty plastic product is uncertain. Will Tupperware become a relic of the past like cane baskets and wooden tea chests, or will online social programmes and avid Chinese consumers save the company?
To visit a typical modern office today is to walk into a room with possibly a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. Up to half of younger workers listen to music on their headphones, and nearly all of them think it makes them better at their jobs. In survey after survey, people report with confidence that music makes them happier, better at concentrating, and more productive.
Scientists do not share this belief, they maintain that listening to music hurts people's ability to recall other things they should be doing, and any pop song, loud or soft, reduces overall performance for both extroverts and introverts. A Taiwanese study linked music that has lyrics to lower marks on concentration tests for college students, and other research has shown music with lyrics scrambles our brains' verbal-processing skills. 'As silence has the best overall performance, it would still be advisable that people work in silence,' another reporter dryly concluded.
The question is therefore: if headphones are so bad for productivity, why do so many people at work have them? One factor to consider is that countries like the USA have moved from a farming and manufacturing economy to a service economy, with an emphasis on jobs in offices that require higher levels of concentration, reflection and creativity. As an estimated 70 percent of office workers work in open-plan office spaces, it is more important to create one's own enclosing bubble of sound. Lending strength to the argument for headphones at work is evidence that music relaxes our muscles, improves our mood, and may even moderately reduce blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety.
The story of headphones began in 1910, when the US Navy received an odd letter written in purple ink on blue-and-pink paper. The letter writer, an eccentric inventor and repairman named Nathaniel Baldwin, from the USA state of Utah, made what at the time was an astonishing claim: he had built, in his kitchen, a new kind of headset that could amplify sound. This was an opportune invention for the Navy, who asked for a sound test and then enthusiastically adopted the headsets, later called headphones, and used them in World War I for naval radio communication.
The purpose of headphones is to concentrate a quiet and private sound in the ear of the listener, which is a radical departure from music’s social purpose in history. ‘Music, together with dance, co-evolved biologically and culturally to serve as a technology of social bonding,’ Nils L Wallin and 1 Björn Merker wrote in The Origins of Music. Songs don’t leave behind fossils, but evidence of musical notation dates back to Sumeria, 3,500 years ago, and in 1995 archeologists discovered a bone flute in southern Europe estimated to be 44,000 years old. If music evolved as a social glue for the species, as a way to make groups and keep them together, headphones have done what writing and literacy did for language – they made music private.
Author and columnist Stephen Marche wrote that separation from other people is one of the first things ordinary Americans spend their money achieving. It is 'a by-product of a long-standing national appetite for independence,' he said. Americans are not alone in their desire for personal independence and privacy. Marche is right; wealth can buy - and modern technology can deliver - personal independence, and it is this that people have always sought.
Dr Michael Bull, an expert on personal music devices from the University of Sussex in the UK, has repeatedly made the larger point that personal music devices change how we relate to public spaces. Controlling our public spaces is more important now that more people are moving from the edges of cities to live in urban centers. 'With the urban space, the more it's inhabited, the safer you feel, Bull says. 'You feel safe if you can feel people there, but you don't want to interact with them.' Headphones create shields for wearers, separating them from other people and their surroundings. Headphones have their own rules of good manners; they are like wearing a 'Do not disturb' sign. We assume that people wearing them are busy and we should respect their privacy, so now people wear them to appear busy. In fact, it is now becoming quite common for people not to listen to anything at all, but just to wear headphones.
However, as pointed out at the beginning of this piece, although scientists have stated that headphones are bad for productivity, people still wear them at work. It is not just that headphones create privacy out of public areas, but also that music causes people to relax and reflect and pause. The outcome of relaxation, reflection and pausing at work won't be captured in minute-to-minute productivity metrics. What must be considered is that in moments of extreme focus, our attention radiates outward, toward the problem, rather than inward, on how to solve the problem. However, with music, 'When our minds are at ease, we're more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward,' Jonah Lehrer wrote in his book Imagine: How Creativity Works. 'The answers have been there all along. We just weren't listening.' In a crowded world, real estate is the ultimate scarce resource, and a headphone is a small invisible fence around our minds - making space, creating separation, and helping us listen to ourselves.
Younger workers
listen to music & think
music
makes them happier, better at concentrating, and more productive
Main idea: Người trẻ - tự tin báo cáo trong survey → âm nhạc làm họ hạnh phúc hơn, tập trung hơn, năng suất hơn => Không có dấu hiệu nào cho thấy giới trẻ "dễ bị thuyết phục bởi các cuộc khảo sát", chỉ là họ tự mình trải nghiệm hoặc tin rằng âm nhạc có ích cho họ.
Trong bài đọc:Bản thân những người lao động trẻ cho biết họ tin rằng âm nhạc giúp cải thiện công việc của họ=> Không có thông tin họ dễ hay khó bị thuyết phục bởi các cuộc khảo sát.
Trong câu hỏi: Người trẻ dễ bị thuyết phục bởi khảo sát rằng âm nhạc có lợi.
