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coherence within the self is disrupted, an individual feels empty and

confused. A person feels that his or her moral foundation and concepts are

destroyed. Engel mentions that “we construct reality in a way that restores

our self-concept” (199). Our self-concept can only be restored in the

presence of inner harmony and consistency; thus, we try to make our reality

consistent over time. Sometimes it is hard to achieve this consistency. One

of the reasons for this matter is that it is impossible for the human mind to

store all of the images of the past. Therefore, we forget some of the events

that might have served as links, connecting other memories. As a result, our

memory tends to sometimes be abrupt and inconsistent. Engel’s claim that we

strive to achieve greater coherence within the selves applies to Hampl’s

first piano lesson in that inventing imaginary events of the past helps us to

achieve greater consistency.

According to Hampl, invention “isn’t a lie, but an act of necessity, as the

innate urge to locate personal truth always is” (187). Hampl implies that

invention of past events is an inevitable step for searching for accuracy in

memories. By truth, she refers to her knowledge of herself. Hampl asserts

that she writes to “find out what she knows” (184). As a result, she invents

some parts of the past to unify it, which helps her to find out more “truth”

about herself. Hampl acknowledges that some parts of her first piano lesson

memory are, in fact, invented. She has invented that the nun’s name was Olive

and that she possessed the Thompson book, a piano text. Hampl agrees that she

“remembers envying children who did have this wonderful book with its

pictures of children and animals printed on the pages of music” (183).

Therefore, possessing what she wanted to possess elevated her self-esteem,

which ultimately led to the greater harmony and consistency within her mind.

However, striving to achieve consistency within the self is only one part of

Engel’s theory of memory. Engel implies that part of her theory is a paradox

between the inner consistency that an individual struggles to attain and

numerous selves that the individual presents to others. Engel argues that “we

work hard to create and maintain a sense of inner cohesion and consistency in

our self-concept.” (199). While doing that, we refer to our “self for the

self”, which tries to preserve this precious inner balance by creating a

positive image of itself (198). Positive image of the self, in turn, leads to

elevated self-esteem, which leads to greater inner harmony, and, ultimately,

greater consistency.  In the meantime, a person displays many different

selves depending on the situation that person is in. Engel suggests that “we

are always remembering in the company of others”, meaning that other people

influence the kinds of memories that we bring up in the conversations (193).

Depending on how others expect to perceive our personalities, we will recall

certain events to justify their expectations. As a result, “we create

different faces, or selves, in response to different social situations”

(198). These different faces are manifestations of the self for others. Each

time, while communicating with others, we create a different persona to

emphasize certain qualities that will be valued the most at this given time.

Engel mentions that “we change past experiences so that they confirm how we

see ourselves in the moment” (200). Thus, depending on the moment, we might

recall particular events from our past to prove and display a particular

persona that we wish to be at the moment. Therefore, it is the social setting

that influences the kind of persona we would like to present, thus affecting

the memories we select.

Engel’s idea of recalling the past in the “company” (193) of other people

applies to Hampl’s first piano lesson. Hampl depicts her first experience

with the piano music by describing the people surrounding her. She talks

about what Sister Olive Marie looked like and how she acted. She mentions

that it was her father who led her into the room. Hampl remembers that Mary

Katherine Reilly was better at the piano than she was. Nowhere in her

description does Hampl describe herself: what she looked like, what she was

wearing, etc. Thus, by putting an emphasis on the description of others in

her memoir, Hampl reinforces the idea that we do recall events as they were

occurring in the company of other people.

Engel’s claim that a person consists of two selves also applies to Hampl’s

piano lesson. In the explanation of her piano lesson memory, Hampl comes to

the conclusion that it was really her two selves interacting – the narrative

self and the reflective self – to produce satisfactory memory. According to

Hampl, the narrative self is a persona telling the story and unconsciously

inventing some imaginary details to attain more consistency; the reflective

self tries to keep the narrative self “ in check” by contemplating what in

the story could have been true or false. The reflective self tries to

eliminate false memories from the story, making the memoir valid. For

example, Hampl’s narrative self was telling a story about the first piano

lesson. It unintentionally recalled false memories to fill in the gaps

between the true memories. For example, Hampl mentions that it was her father

who led her into the room with the piano, that the Sister’s name was Olive,

that she had a Thompson book with her. However, Hampl’s reflective self

became active when she was analyzing what she had remembered and what could

have been false in the story. Hampl starts questioning whether it was really

her father that showed her the way and whether the Sister’s name was truly

Olive. There is a certain paradox that Hampl faces as well. Although the

narrative self creates events that unify the memory by inventing, a memoirist

cannot afford writing about events that did not occur. That is why the

reflective self is so important to a memoir writer. Although Hampl mentions

that ideally “for a memoirist, the writing of the story is a matter of

transcription [describing dry facts]”, she cannot refrain from inventing

since transcription is a “myth of memoir” (183, 184). Therefore, a memoirist

needs to find yet another way to create a coherent and valid story through

staying away from too much invention. One way to do that is to recall

template memories.

Engel claims that there are special kinds of memories – template memories -

stored in our minds. According to Engel, a template memory is “a memory that

stands for a large more diffuse meaning or theme in person’s life” (204).

Engel implies that our memories are sorted according to themes; recalling a

certain event - a template - will cause us to remember more. Association

stored in mind is what makes us remember more of events related to the same

theme. For example, Engel recalls the tonsillectomy procedure that she had to

go through when she was five. She remembers that it was really difficult for

her to choose which parent to go home with after the operation. Engel later

remembered the tonsillectomy because she was faced with a difficult job

decision. Unconsciously, in her mind, she associated the inability to choose

between the two options that she had with having to choose between two

parents. In this case, the tonsillectomy was a template. It caused Engel to

remember her childhood, an event pertaining to the theme of choice. Engel

also claims that template memories cause people to not only remember events

but also experience feelings that they once felt while living through a

particular event. For example, when Engel had to decide which parent to go

home with, she felt concern of her parents, hesitation, misery for having

chosen her father instead of her mother, and uneasiness in relations with her

father. When she had to make a choice related to her job, she also

experienced hesitation, uneasiness, and desperation.

The claim of templates fully applies to Hampl’s first piano lesson. Hampl

remembers that when she was seven, her father took her to her first piano

lesson. The piano lesson itself acts as a template memory. However, this

“template” causes Hampl to remember more about the lesson. Hampl recalls that

the room was “full of pianos. There many little girls and a single sad boy

were playing truly tortured scales and arpeggios in a mash of troubled sound”

(181).  Hampl’s teacher, Sister Olive, “was a small, plump woman; her body

and the small window of her face seemed to interpret the entire alphabet of

olive.” (181). Hampl remembers that Sister Olive used to sneeze a lot, which

seemed strange to little Hampl. She recalls that Sister Olive gave her a

Thompson book and told her to practice. At the same time, Mary Katherine

Reilly was playing something much more sophisticated, which made Hampl feel

inferior. All of these events are caused by the template memory – the piano

lesson. Hampl would probably never remember them as single events had she

never thought of her piano lesson. While recalling her first piano lesson,

Hampl also remembers her feelings at the moment. In her essay, she implies

that she experienced fear of the unknown, inferiority, and boredom. She felt

estranged in the unfamiliar place.

Both Engel and Hampl assert that memory is essential in constructing a self

through the past.  Human identity, to be useful in the society, needs to be

coherent and in harmony with itself. Despite the conflict between the

different selves, human beings strive to attain harmony. This demanding inner

effort of human beings is necessary to preserve human uniqueness and stay

connected to the society. Thus, by overcoming internal and external

conflicts, human beings, with all their life memories, come to realize their

ideals and goals. 

Appearance (1)  Внешность.

What do you feel when a handsome gentleman or a beautiful lady passes by? Then how about a fat short person wearing a dirty shirt? You feel differently? Yes, most people do. It is very common for people to judge a person by external appearance, because it is easy and direct, and it is instinctive. Appearance is a very important aspect of a person and reflects one"s personalities.

Sometimes you can tell the person"s characteristics from his appearance. However, in most cases, you cannot tell exactly what the person is like just from the external appearance, and ethically, we should not judge a person just by one glance at his external appearance. "Beauty and beast" and "Snow white and seven dwarves" are two stories that are almost known by everyone. Although there are fables, there are deep meanings inside them. What you can learn from them is that people that are not so good-looking can be very good people internally. And actually there are tons of examples in reality. Napoleon is a very short guy, but he was one of the most famous people in the history. Theodore Roosevelt, former US president during World War II, is handicapped; but he is one of the most successful presidents in American history. So how can you tell about the people from their external appearance?

Moreover, there are other undeniable facts that show that a beautiful person may be rotten inside. There are many prostitutes on the busy streets. It is obviously that they are very beautiful, but are they really righteous people? A beautiful appearance is a good thing, but a righteous heart is more valuable. Finally, as we can see, it is out of question that we should not judge people just from their external appearance. The most important standard is their internal personality. 
 
 

A number of people believe that pocket money teaches teenagers to be responsible with money. Others say that teenagers are too young to deal with money and that their parents should just buy them what they need.

There are a lot of people nowadays who consider pocket money to be unnecessary in the life of a modern teenager. Others argue that having their own money teaches young people financial responsibility. Let us compare some of the reasons of such attitude and opinion.

In my view, a modern person must have pocket money. The fact makes teenagers feel self-confident and self-respect. Moreover, the money can motivate them to work and study. Finally, if pocket money is earned, it cannot be wasted very fast, therefore, it is a start of the individual’s financial security.

Supporters of the opposite opinion prove that pocket money causes acquiring bad habits, such as smoking or drinking. Having spare money without a definite purpose to spend it can motivate lazing about instead of studying. However, anything should be done intelligently, and, if teenagers do not have any ambitions in their lives, pocket money cannot help or disturb them.

All things considered, I am strongly convinced that pocket money is an extra opportunity for young people in their independence. The best pocket money is the earned money.  

182 words 

Playing computer games is one of the most widespread teenage hobbies. There are a lot of parents, however, who consider that this occupation is excluding by itself such vital activities as sport and fitness from their children's lives. Let us examine some of the reasons for such differences of attitude towards computer games.

In my opinion, teenagers’ heightened interest in computer games can damage their physical, spiritual and mental health dramatically. Firstly, games contain too much violence for a young individual. As a result, teenagers stop realizing the limits between good and evil in their real lives. Secondly, computer games are addictive. Consequently, they distract schoolchildren from physical jerks and influence their health harmfully. Finally, everyone knows that playing computer games is an expensive form of entertainment, therefore it takes the money from a family which might be spent on more useful things. Thus, choosing between a swimming-pool membership card and the latest portable playstation, a modern teenager will pick out the latter.

Computer games advocates argue that the modern hobby develops various important skills, such as quick wits and reaction. However, according to scientists, playing computer games develops the only one skill – the skill of playing computer games! On the other hand, the above-listed skills can be developed with the help of sport or fitness.

To sum it up, I am strongly convinced that teenage health can suffer from playing computer games dramatically. The parents’ role in regulating the quality and quantity of their children’s entertainment is difficult to overestimate. 

250 words 

Animals need help. Earth is in danger

People have lived on our planet for many years. They lived and live on different continents, in different countries. People depend on their planet, on the sun, on animals and plants around them. People must take care of Earth. Our ecology becomes worse and worse with every new day. Many species of animals and birds are disappearing nowadays. People destruct wildlife, cut down trees to make furniture. They forget that people can’t live without trees and plants, because they fill air with oxygen. And, of course, great problems are population and animals destruction. The main reason of pollution is rubbish. Most of our rubbish goes to big holes in the ground, called ‘dumps’. But dumps are very dangerous for our life ‘cause they are full of rats, which can carry infections away from dumps. Another way to get rid of rubbish is to burn it. But the fires make poisons, which go into the air and pollute it. But pollution isn’t the only actual problem. Every day a big number of animals dissapeares. People kill animals for different aims: e.g. people hunt whales for their meat and oil; elephants for their tusks, crocodiles for their leather and so on. And also animals are used for medical experiments. The most wide – speared from such animals are monkeys. Modern life is bad for animals, birds, fish. The air isn’t fresh and the water isn’t pure. They don’t have good meal and facilities for the life. You can find their names in the Red Book. Of course, people can’t stay indifferent to these problems. There are a lot of special organizations, which try to save our nature. The most known are: The Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (The RSPCA), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Greenpeace. The RSPCA tries to protect animals from bad use. It operates big nation campaigns aimed at lost pets, circus animals. The WWF rescued several species of animals, mammals as well as birds. These organization also helped to create more than 250 National parks. Greenpeace began its work 20 years ago from saving whales. And now Greenpeace is a world-famous organization, which saves plants, animals and people. These organization, want to rescue animals, to help them to survive and to save jungle rain forests, which are in danger of destruction. And they also help animals ‘cause many of them have already gone as they have nowhere to live. Their homes, the trees, have disappeared. We must save wild animals. And we must find the right way to save land, people and animals. We must lake care of nature, because we are part of it.