How to be Happy
Read How to be Happy and check the IELTS Reading answers. 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 gratitud…
Passage preview
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.
Vocabulary from this passage
9 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- contentment noun
A prolonged state of tranquil happiness, deep satisfaction, and psychological peace with one's current life circumstances
Psychological studies suggest that actively valuing long-term contentment over fleeting joy yields superior mental health outcomes.
- hard-wired adjective
Involving innate behavioral patterns or physiological traits dictated by inescapable biological or fundamental neurological factors
The strong evolutionary drive to seek out high-calorie nutritional sources is hard-wired into human biology.
- preliminary results noun
Initial scientific findings or empirical data collected before a comprehensive investigation or experiment is fully concluded
Although the preliminary results were highly promising, further empirical evidence was required to confirm the radical hypothesis.
- prolonged adjective
Continuing for a notably extended or protracted duration, often stretching significantly beyond what is standard or expected
Exposure to prolonged periods of occupational stress can permanently alter the brain's delicate hormonal regulation mechanisms.
- regenerate verb
To grow again after being permanently lost or physically damaged, or to bring new and vigorous life
Medical researchers once firmly believed that adult central nervous system tissue could not successfully regenerate after severe injury.
- regulate verb
To systematically control or maintain the exact rate, speed, or function of a machine or complex biological process
The hypothalamus plays a critically important physiological role in helping to regulate the human body's core temperature.
- relentless adjective
Oppressively constant, continuous, or completely unyielding in intensity, strictness, or demanding pressure
The relentless pressure to succeed academically can severely impact a university student's overall mental well-being.
- stimulus noun
A detectable physical or chemical change in the internal or external environment that provokes a corresponding physiological response
The clinical subjects demonstrated heightened cognitive activity when continuously exposed to complex visual and auditory stimuli.
- synapse noun
A microscopic neural junction between two nerve cells, consisting of a minute gap across which electrical impulses pass
Learning a complex new language physically alters the brain architecture by forming entirely new communication synapses.
Answers with explanations
- 14. B
Paragraph B highlights that **Hanson** uses "exactly the same" imaginary technique (the 'video method') as another scientist, **Tony Fernando**, to create good feelings and promote happiness.
- 15. A
Paragraph A states that **neuroscientists** used to believe adult brain cells couldn't regenerate **30 years ago**, but now understand they can. This highlights how **scientific opinion** about brain regeneration has changed.
- 16. A
Paragraph A gives specific numerical **estimates** ("approximately ten trillion", "roughly a hundred billion") for synapses and neurons, which are **components** of the brain.
- 17. C
Paragraph C explains that mindfulness programmes (**educational courses**) were set up in schools **because** children need to be explicitly taught *how* to pay attention.
- 18. E
**Carsten Grimm** (Person E) concluded that using "several pathways" to happiness yields better results than concentrating on a "single pathway," which matches the idea of looking for a "variety of ways."
- 19. C
**Rick Hanson** (Person C) argues that focusing on "things you have accomplished" (**personal achievements**) rather than worries will hard-wire optimism into the brain, making people happier.
- 20. F
**Nathan Consedine** (Person F) explains that happy people might avoid showing **sympathy** (a favourable characteristic) because engaging with distress could lower their own happiness.
- 21. D
**Judi Clements** (Person D) notes that there is a "hunger" (strong interest) in these techniques from a variety of "different organisations and professions" (**a range of groups**).
- 22. animals
Johanna Montgomery notes that current theories about synaptic changes and behavior are based solely on studies involving **animals**, as scientists do not yet have the technology to prove it in humans.
- 23. blood
The text confirms that brain scans show positive stimuli result in an increased flow of **blood** reaching different areas of the brain, perfectly completing the summary sentence.
- 24. electricity
To initiate brain activity in experiments, scientists use **electricity** because it "copies" (is similar to) the natural high-frequency firings that naturally happen in the brain.
- 25. weather
The passage draws a direct comparison between the regulating effect of **hormones** on the brain and the regulating effect of the **weather** on human activity.
- 26. fear
The text points out that scientists understand the brain's response to **fear** better than they understand its response to "positive events" and happiness hormones.