Altering the modern mind - Test 4

C2 Proficiency · Open Cloze · Cambridge English Proficiency 1, Cambridge University Press

For questions 1–8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space.

A recently published book claims that the (0) ___ of time we spend on the Internet is changing the very structure of our brains. Its thesis is simple enough: not only that the modern world's relentless informational overload is killing our capacity (1) ___ reflection, contemplation and patience, but that our online habits are also altering the way our brains are wired. In the book, the author looks (2) ___ on such human inventions as the map and the clock and the (3) ___ to which they influenced our essential models of thought. He argues that the Internet's multiplicity of stimuli and mass of information have (4) ___ rise to hurried and distracted thinking. Without putting too fine a point on it, the author concludes that our ability to learn (5) ___ at all worthwhile has become superficial. Surprisingly very (6) ___ research has looked into the Internet's effects on the brain, but further research is (7) ___ hand and is investigating whether deep-thinking processes really are in (8) ___ of disappearing.

Altering the modern mind

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