English b1: 02.09.2025 680

Fill in the gaps with the words in the box below.

addition – argued – hold – however – instance – sum – the one – those who – to be – while

1 it is true that technology is efficient and convenient, I believe excessive use can lead to reduced social interactions and a sense of isolation.

2Although it could be that the death penalty serves as a deterrent for heinous crimes, the potential for wrongful convictions raises concerns about its fairness and morality.

3I the view that smartphones have revolutionized communication and made our lives more convenient. , some argue that excessive smartphone use leads to addiction and social isolation.

4There are claim that animal experiments are necessary for medical advancements and scientific research.

5Many believe that sleeping near smartphones negatively affects health. For , research has shown that the phone's light can interfere with the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep.

6Vaping is believed a potentially safer alternative to traditional smoking.

7On hand, some people argue that the use of solar energy is a sustainable solution to meet our energy needs. In , they also claim that solar energy decreases carbon emissions and helps fight climate change.

To up, it is important to consider the impact of our actions on the environment and future generations.

Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came out in 2004. Twenty years on, its stubborn insistence that the memory of pain gives meaning to our lives is as relevant as ever.

I first watched Gondry’s cult classic earlier this year, in the midst of recovering from postnatal PTSD. When we are faced with heartbreak, it can be easy to wish that we could retreat from painful memories, hiding them away until the initial pang has seemingly died down. That was my experience, at least. But I quickly learnt that the traumatic memory of my daughter’s birth would continue to resurface until I processed it and accepted it as part of my life. Just so, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind teaches us that being vulnerable to suffering is a gift, that suffering itself is necessary to our moral growth, and that our ability to remember the past is an invaluable faculty of the human mind.

The film begins simply, with a meeting between its protagonists, Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski. As Joel and Clementine start making small talk, they seem immediately comfortable, almost familiar with each other, and yet the atmosphere is eerie. Soon enough, we discover that Clementine was a patient at Lacuna, a clinic which erased every memory of Joel from her mind after their two-year relationship ended in a painful breakup. When Joel finds out, he asks Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, the director of Lacuna, to do the same for him. As viewers, we now start to wonder: was that meeting we witnessed their very first, or have they met again after their memories were erased, unaware that they loved each other in a ‘past’ life?

This tone of disorientation continues throughout the film, and that’s what makes it so special. As Joel’s memories of Clementine are erased one by one, he realises that the removal of one’s painful experiences is in itself a kind of trauma; what promises to be a relief, turns out to be nothing more than loss.

We experience this sense of disorientation and loss alongside Joel as we jump through snippets of his and Clementine’s happiest and saddest moments together, trying to piece together in our minds a linear narrative of their relationship. While this is happening, the film’s subplot focuses on Stan, Patrick, and Mary, three young people working for Lacuna. As Stan and Patrick, the ‘technicians’, work on Joel’s memory removal, Mary, Lacuna’s naive receptionist, muses on the beauty of their mission.

Mary has an idealistic vision of her work: she believes she is helping suffering people experience the kind of ‘eternal sunshine’ that only a ‘spotless mind’ can achieve. But the human mind is not so simple. Joel’s desire for forgetfulness quickly turns nightmarish. As he realises he has made a mistake, he starts fighting to retain the memory of his love for Clementine, but his is a hopeless quest. Dr. Mierzwiak’s intervention ensures that the procedure is completed.

Left alone without Stan and Patrick, Mary confesses to the married Dr. Mierzwiak that she is in love with him. It is at this point that her idealism crumbles down. He reveals that they’ve already had an affair in the past and that she agreed to let him erase its memory from her mind. Mary is devastated. She decides that what Lacuna is doing is unethical - even if Mierzwiak technically has the patients’ consent to the procedure - and releases the clinic’s files back to the patients. It is this decision which leads Clementine and Joel, just a few days after they ‘meet’ again, to discover that they’ve already loved each other in the past.

Although the script of the film doesn’t spell it out, Mary’s story emphasises that the absence of painful memories is in itself experienced as a painful loss. What’s more, it shows that, without the memory of the suffering which we have inflicted on others, and which others have inflicted on us, we are incapable of moral growth. Thanks to the knowledge of the past, Mary is able, this time around, to resist having an affair with a married man. Just so, the final scene of the film, which sees Joel and Clementine vow to renew their relationship, is hopeful not in spite of the fact that they have regained the memory of the ways in which they hurt each other in the past, but precisely because of it.

Accepting suffering and holding it in our hearts, not with bitterness, but rather with courage, requires endless patience and infinite hope. But that is what we were made for. Each one of us is called to endure pain in imitation of Christ, and, out of that pain, to discover a greater capacity for sacrificial love. We make meaning out of pain: that’s what human beings do.

Part 1: Reading Comprehension (Short Answer)

Why does the narrator relate their experience of postnatal PTSD to the message of the film?
How does the film portray the act of erasing memories — as relief or as another form of trauma? Explain.
What role does Mary play in the moral message of the story?
In the end, why is Joel and Clementine’s decision to restart their relationship considered hopeful?

Part 2: Vocabulary & Expressions

Match the highlighted words/phrases from the text to their meanings.

A) "stubborn insistence"
B) "moral growth"
C) "muses on"
D) "idealistic vision"
E) "to hold it in our hearts"

To think deeply or reflect about something
Personal development based on ethical learning from past mistakes
A fixed, determined demand or emphasis
Keeping a feeling or experience as part of one’s emotional memory
A way of seeing things that is overly optimistic or detached from reality

Part 3: Critical Thinking

The author writes: “The absence of painful memories is in itself experienced as a painful loss.”

Do you agree or disagree? Give one real-life or fictional example to justify your answer.

Based on the text, what does the author suggest about the relationship between memory, suffering, and identity? Choose the best summary:

A) Painful memories should be erased to allow personal freedom.
B) Suffering is meaningless, but memories help us cope with it.
C) Pain and memory are both essential to building a meaningful, morally mature identity.
D) Forgetting suffering is harmless as long as one can start over.