Precis Writing on Memory of Childhood



Make a precis of each of the following passages. The precis should be as far as possible in your own words. Suggest a suitable title also for your precis.

When our childhood has fallen behind us and taken on some of the glamour of distance we often ransack our memories in order to call up to our mind’s eye the picture of the children we were. Then we are surprised to discover how little we remember of our earliest days; they have gone for ever and seemingly have left nothing behind them. All is lost in haze, and no definite image rewards our efforts to recapture the incidents of infancy.
Some, however, can recall more than others; one may remember something that happened when he was only a child of two, while another may find his memory blank–a clean sheet of paper as far as anything is concerned which befell him before he was five. Yet, perhaps as regards things generally, the memory of the latter may be stronger than that of the former, it is only in regard to his early childhood that the first man’s memory is stronger.
To account for these variations is not easy : there are so many factors to be taken into account. Nature and circumstances have to be considered. One may be markedly introspective, unconsciously looking into himself from his earliest days : another may have had an accident which could not fail to impress itself on his memory. Again, one man may remember earlier events because his memory is a visual one, while another looks not so far back because his memory is more of the mind and a child’s mind is of slower development than his sight.

Some Tips : Memory of Childhood

Main points of the passage are to be noted down :
1. We remember little of our earlier days.
2. The memory of some extends farther back than that of others.
3. Variations in the memory of childhood are due to a person’s nature and early circumstances.

After some years, if we look back to our earliest days of childhood, we would find that we remember very little. The memories of some however can go back farther than that of others. It is not necessarily the stronger memory that does it. It is the nature of a man and his circumstances that determine the extent of his memory. A man with visual memory may have better memory than others.