full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mark Bezos: A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Back in New York, I am the head of development for a non-profit called riobn Hood. When I'm not ftigihng poverty, I'm fighting fires as the assistant captain of a volunteer fire company. Now in our town, where the volunteers snpelemupt a highly skilled career staff, you have to get to the fire snece pretty early to get in on any action.

I remember my first fire. I was the second volunteer on the scene, so there was a pretty good ccnahe I was going to get in. But still it was a real footrace against the other volunteers to get to the captain in charge to find out what our anmgsniests would be. When I found the captain, he was having a very eagginng conversation with the homeowner, who was surely having one of the worst days of her life. Here it was, the middle of the night, she was standing outside in the pouring rain, under an umbrella, in her pajamas, barefoot, while her hsoue was in fmleas.

Open Cloze


Back in New York, I am the head of development for a non-profit called _____ Hood. When I'm not ________ poverty, I'm fighting fires as the assistant captain of a volunteer fire company. Now in our town, where the volunteers __________ a highly skilled career staff, you have to get to the fire _____ pretty early to get in on any action.

I remember my first fire. I was the second volunteer on the scene, so there was a pretty good ______ I was going to get in. But still it was a real footrace against the other volunteers to get to the captain in charge to find out what our ___________ would be. When I found the captain, he was having a very ________ conversation with the homeowner, who was surely having one of the worst days of her life. Here it was, the middle of the night, she was standing outside in the pouring rain, under an umbrella, in her pajamas, barefoot, while her _____ was in ______.

Solution


  1. flames
  2. robin
  3. scene
  4. chance
  5. engaging
  6. fighting
  7. supplement
  8. assignments
  9. house

Original Text


Back in New York, I am the head of development for a non-profit called Robin Hood. When I'm not fighting poverty, I'm fighting fires as the assistant captain of a volunteer fire company. Now in our town, where the volunteers supplement a highly skilled career staff, you have to get to the fire scene pretty early to get in on any action.

I remember my first fire. I was the second volunteer on the scene, so there was a pretty good chance I was going to get in. But still it was a real footrace against the other volunteers to get to the captain in charge to find out what our assignments would be. When I found the captain, he was having a very engaging conversation with the homeowner, who was surely having one of the worst days of her life. Here it was, the middle of the night, she was standing outside in the pouring rain, under an umbrella, in her pajamas, barefoot, while her house was in flames.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
robin hood 2


Important Words


  1. action
  2. assignments
  3. assistant
  4. barefoot
  5. called
  6. captain
  7. career
  8. chance
  9. charge
  10. company
  11. conversation
  12. days
  13. development
  14. early
  15. engaging
  16. fighting
  17. find
  18. fire
  19. fires
  20. flames
  21. footrace
  22. good
  23. head
  24. highly
  25. homeowner
  26. hood
  27. house
  28. life
  29. middle
  30. night
  31. pajamas
  32. pouring
  33. poverty
  34. pretty
  35. rain
  36. real
  37. remember
  38. robin
  39. scene
  40. skilled
  41. staff
  42. standing
  43. supplement
  44. surely
  45. town
  46. umbrella
  47. volunteer
  48. volunteers
  49. worst
  50. york