Is Mountaineering Addictive?

   The Author: Dalya Rosner, Cambridge University

   On May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary took the last few decisive steps up Mount
   Everest, and became the first known humans to reach the summit of the highest mountain on
   Earth. For fifty years their story has captured the popular imagination, and inspired
   generations of mountaineers, adventurers and ordinary people looking to applaud the stamina of
   humans and marvel at their determination. But over this time, scientists have begun
   deconstructing why a person might take themselves out of their ordinary environment and
   perform such a feat.

   Mountain climbing is but one of the many extreme sports described by the more cautious amongst
   us as reckless behaviour. As time goes by, and technologies evolve, the risk becomes more
   calculated, but there are still many dangers on an Everest expedition over which climbers have
   little control, and nature can still easily outwit the physiology of even the best equipped
   adventurers.

   Despite all the danger - or perhaps because of it - mountain climbing and other extreme sports
   have the admiration of amateurs, and the addiction of the die-hard. Behavioural geneticists,
   on the other hand, prefer you to believe that all the enthusiasm boils down to a simple case
   of dopamine biology. Scientists have shown that genes that control sensitivity of our nerve
   cells to the neurotransmitter dopamine, one of the brain's pleasure chemicals, are responsible
   for a number of personality traits and psychiatric disorders. When dopamine is released by
   neurones in the 'reward centre' of the brain, it generates a feeling of pleasure and
   well-being as well as increasing alertness.

   Adventures make a person feel more alive - they provide pleasure and satisfaction and increase
   awareness. The finding that dopamine is released during a new experience, and is responsible
   for these sensations, therefore comes as no surprise. Remarkably though, pain can also cause
   release of dopamine, so it makes sense that mountain climbing is an enjoyable activity; the
   climber experiences extraordinary terrain and pushes himself/herself physically to the point
   of agony. Dopamine is released and everyone has fun!

   The average person likes an average amount of novelty in his or her life. But some people seem
   to be more adventurous and continuously pursue diversity, even if their activities involve
   dangers. Individuals like this tend to lag if they are not constantly stimulated, and they
   begin to feel inert and depressed. Several studies found that this 'novelty seeking'
   personality type is linked to a gene called D4DR which encodes a dopamine receptor, a
   structure found on the surface of nerve cells which enables them to detect the presence of
   dopamine.

   Edmund Hillary talks about his fascination with adventure as a young boy in several
   interviews. He must be no stranger to the effects of dopamine release. But he also speaks
   about the amount of planning and organisation that goes into preparing for a major expedition.
   Some scientists would like to explain away the fascination with extreme sports by blaming it
   on an abnormality of genetics. Yet, if people with a novelty-seeking personality needed to
   keep their moods stable, would they really seek out a sport as time consuming as
   mountaineering? If their attention span lags, could they be bothered to plan? Perhaps the
   answer lies in the magnificence of the mountains. Or perhaps the moment-to-moment strategic
   decisions, which are needed to make climbing physically possible, make all the planning
   worthwhile.

   (Adapted from http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles)

   

   

   

   I. Find the words in italics in the passage and decide which of the two meanings is correct:

   feat        

   a)      an action that needs strength and courage

   b)      unacceptable idea

   

         to outwit

   a)      to defeat

   b)      to make a joke

        

         trait

   a)      fault

   b)      quality

   

        pursue

   a)      try to achieve

   b)      avoid

   

        span

   a)      intensity of a quality

   b)      the length of time

                        

   II. Underline the key ideas and phrases in the passage.

   

   III. Summarise the content of every paragraph in one sentence.

   

   IV. Combine the one-sentence summaries into a coherent thesis including details from the
   passage, introducing examples etc.

   

   

   Verbs for referring to sources:

   

   Consider

   Discover

   Say

   Doubt

   Imply

   Show

   Believe

   Demonstrate

   Emphasize

   Point out

   Explain

   Suggest

   Claim

   Argue

   Determine

   Find

   Reveal

   Conclude