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Reading answers with explanations

IELTS · Part 2 · Cambridge 13 — Test 1

Why being bored is stimulating - and useful, too: Reading answers

Answers to questions 14–26 (13 in all), each with why it is right.

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Read the whole passage and answer in the exam interface, timed as on the day.

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This most common of emotions is turning out to be more interesting than we thought 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,…

Answers 14–26

  1. 14

    Paragraph A

    iv: Problems with a scientific approach to boredom Matching headings

  2. 15

    Paragraph B

    vi: Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom Matching headings

  3. 16

    Paragraph C

    i: The productive outcomes that may result from boredom Matching headings

  4. 17

    Paragraph D

    v: A potential danger arising from boredom Matching headings

  5. 18

    Paragraph E

    viii: Identifying those most affected by boredom Matching headings

  6. 19

    Paragraph F

    iii: A new explanation and a new cure for boredom Matching headings

  7. 20

    Peter Toohey

    E: Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience. Matching features

  8. 21

    Thomas Goetz

    B: One sort of boredom is worse than all the others. Matching features

  9. 22

    John Eastwood

    D: Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects. Matching features

  10. 23

    Francoise Wemelsfelder

    A: The way we live today may encourage boredom. Matching features

  11. 24

    focus Note completion

  12. 25

    pleasure Note completion

  13. 26

    curiosity Note completion

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