TOEFL® Essay: Why do we remeber gifts?

[Konstantin]

Hello!
Question:
People remember special gifts or presents they have received. Why? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
Answer:
As many other people I have remembered special gifts and presents which I have received. I believe that there are some main reasons, why we do so: we associate a specific present with a particular person and event or we distinguish it because of some unique features.

Every gift is associated with a specific person and sometimes an ordinary gift, given by a unique man, is priceless. None have forgotten the first gift from his future wife or the first picture, presented by his small child. Since one remember only strong emotions: love, hate or something else, he could make parallel among the person’s spirit and the gift.

Since we are given a lot of presents every year we couldn’t remember all of them. On the other hand some exquisite, romantic or interesting gifts are in our memory for good. For instance, at the Women’s Day in our school, every male student had to prepare gift for the particular girl. Most of my classmates presented them with candies or books. On the other hand, I wrote the poem by myself and read it aloud. As a result, the girl was astonished and I believe that she remembers that day until now.

Sometimes a person receives a gift in an extraordinary situation, visiting some exciting place. When one of my friends was in Africa, he participated in the excursion at a native tribe. During the tour he was given a beautiful necklace because the daughter of the tribe’s chief found him beautiful and since that time this necklace is in his bedroom. When we look at such gifts we remember the entire situation and we feel pleasant nostalgia.

Everyone likes to receive presents but it’s quite difficult to say certainly why we remember some of them and forget others. I guess that the memories depend not only on the present itself, but also on the person, who gave it and on the situation, where it occurred.