Academic/General Training Module by Adam Smith First Published in 2015

they did in the past. Do you agree or disagree? Why? 
I disagree with that kind of opinion. It’s impossible to generalise about how 
much people help in their communities from one generation to the next, so I 
don’t think we should try to judge or compare how altruistic people are now or 
were in the past. There have always been those who help others and those 
who don’t. 

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 IELTS
 JOURNAL 
 
 
 
94 
 
Talking about history 
1. What do you think we can learn by studying events of the past? 
I think we can learn a lot by studying history. Just as individual people learn 
from their mistakes, societies can learn from the mistakes made by previous 
governments or leaders. For example, from what I've read in the newspapers, 
many economists are looking back to the time of the Great Depression, around 
80 years ago, in order to understand the financial crisis that is currently 
affecting many countries around the world. Even if we don't always learn from 
mistakes, I think it's fascinating to study history because it gives us an insight 
into who we are and where we come from.