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Reading Comprehension

I.1 Using memory not Google Maps

Read the newspaper article about the brains of London's cab driver.

SCIENCE London cabbies’ brains are being studied for Alzheimer’s research.
by Siobhan Bruns
1
LIKE THE double-decker bus or red telephone box, the black cab is unique to the city of London’s streets.
2
Now researchers want to find out if the brains of the men and women behind the wheels of those black cabs
3
are also unique. Because they could hold the key to how to fight off Alzheimer’s Disease.
4
Long before GPS there was another way to get the quickest routes through London’s complicated road
5
network: “the Knowledge”.
6
Short for “the Knowledge of London”, “the Knowledge” is an examination that everyone who wants to drive
7
a cab in London must pass to prove they can navigate their way around the city. It was first introduced as a
8
requirement for drivers in 1865. At that time cabs were still pulled by horses.
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To pass the examination, an encyclopaedic knowledge of the streets and places of interest in the capital city
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is required. From a six-mile radius starting at Charing-Cross, a cabbie has to learn 26,000 streets and
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100,000 businesses and landmarks by heart.
12
Whether Big Ben or the tiniest residential lane, a black cab driver must have total recall of it all – no looking
13
at a map or switching on the smartphone allowed. The Times writes that the examination takes three to four
14
years to prepare for and is “widely seen as the most challenging test of memory on earth”.
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A research project called Taxi Brains at University College London is now looking at whether those who have
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“the Knowledge” can help them learn about Alzheimer’s.
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This project expands on an older study of London’s cabbies. That study found that a part of the brain which
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plays an important part in learning and memory called the hippocampus is larger in London cab drivers than
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in other people and continues to grow the longer they do the job. This is the same part of the brain which
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shrinks in people who suffer from Alzheimer’s.
21
Together with three PhD students, Hugo Spiers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College
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London, is showing cabbies photos of London landmarks and street names and asking them to map out
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routes in their minds from Point A to Point B inside an MRI scanner.
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PhD student Chris Gahnstrom said that London cabbies were ideal participants for this study because there
25
is no other professional group quite like them, especially in the field of spatial navigation – something that
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people with dementia lose.
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“One of the key things that happens in the early stages [of Alzheimer’s Disease] is that people become
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disorientated. When they step out of the house they don’t know where they really are or which way they need
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to go. They’re lost,” Spiers said.
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The researchers hope to publish their findings this summer. If they learn that using our memory instead of
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relying on Google Maps fights off Alzheimer’s Disease, we may have to think twice about having our
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smartphones tell us which way to go.
(adapted from: Read on, February 2022, p. 5)
Answer the following questions. You do not need to write complete sentences.
1
Why are scientists interested in London taxi drivers? (Name one.)
2
What skill does being successful in the examination “the Knowledge of London” demonstrate?
3
What are taxi drivers forbidden from doing?
4
How do the brains of taxi drivers differ from the brains of everyone else? (Name one.)
5
What happens to a part of Alzheimer’s patients’ brains?
6
What do taxi drivers have to do when looking at pictures in this research project?
7
What is one of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease? (Name one.)
8 BE
1.2
Breaking news – Technology
Read the news items (1 – 5) and match them to the headings (A – G).
There are two more headings than you need.
News 1
A new report describes life in 2116. There will be many tall buildings and underwater cities. Experts say the way we live, work and play will be very different. We will download ideas for furniture or food and then “print” them on our 3D printer.
News 2:
Do you worry about dropping your smartphone? Glass used to make smartphone screens just got stronger. The glass is called Gorilla Glass. It has been used in smartphones for many years. It is now more difficult to scratch, crack or smash. It can also survive drops of up to two metres without any damage.
News 3:
Elon Musk has opened a gym for robots called OpenAI Gym. He said: “Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole.” It is like when a dog gets a treat for learning something new. If an algorithm does well in the gym, it gets a reward. If it fails, it doesn't.
News 4:
Scientists have made a tiny camera that can be put on a beetle. It records where bugs go. It gives a bug’s-eye view of the world. Researchers can see places never seen before. One researcher said: “Insects can cross rocky environments, which is really challenging for robots to do. So this system can also help us out by letting us see hard-to-navigate spaces.” He added: “It is the first time that we’ve had a first-person view from the back of a beetle.”
News 5:
TikTok will soon allow 10-minute videos. Back in 2018, TikTok offered only one- minute videos. That tripled to three minutes in 2021. Longer videos may increase TikTok’s profits because they are easier to make money from. However, young people like shorter videos and might go to other websites where they can watch more videos in a shorter period of time.
(adapted from: https://breakingnewsenglish.com, Zugriff am: 07.04.2022)
Headings
News 1 2 3 4 5
Heading
5 BE

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