full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mark Pollock and Simone George: A love letter to realism in a time of grief

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When I aeskd him what had led to this high-octane life, he quoted Nietzsche: "He, who has a Why to live, can bear with almost any How." He had come across the quote in a really beautiful book called "Man's Search for Meaning," by vktoir Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist who survived years in a Nazi concentration camp. Frankl used this Nietzsche quote to elapxin to us that when we can no leongr change our circumstances, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Mark Pollock: Eventually, I did rebuild my ientidty, and the Why for me was about competing again, because pnuurisg success and risking flaurie was simply how I felt normal. And I finihsed the rebuild on the 10th anniversary of losing my sight. I took part in a 43-day expedition race in the coldest, most reotme, most challenging place on earth. It was the first race to the South Pole since Shackleton, sotct and Amundsen set foot in Antarctica, 100 yares before. And putting the demons of blindness behind me with every step towards the pole, it offered me a long-lasting sense of contentment.

Open Cloze


When I _____ him what had led to this high-octane life, he quoted Nietzsche: "He, who has a Why to live, can bear with almost any How." He had come across the quote in a really beautiful book called "Man's Search for Meaning," by ______ Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist who survived years in a Nazi concentration camp. Frankl used this Nietzsche quote to _______ to us that when we can no ______ change our circumstances, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Mark Pollock: Eventually, I did rebuild my ________, and the Why for me was about competing again, because ________ success and risking _______ was simply how I felt normal. And I ________ the rebuild on the 10th anniversary of losing my sight. I took part in a 43-day expedition race in the coldest, most ______, most challenging place on earth. It was the first race to the South Pole since Shackleton, _____ and Amundsen set foot in Antarctica, 100 _____ before. And putting the demons of blindness behind me with every step towards the pole, it offered me a long-lasting sense of contentment.

Solution


  1. years
  2. identity
  3. pursuing
  4. failure
  5. finished
  6. remote
  7. scott
  8. longer
  9. viktor
  10. asked
  11. explain

Original Text


When I asked him what had led to this high-octane life, he quoted Nietzsche: "He, who has a Why to live, can bear with almost any How." He had come across the quote in a really beautiful book called "Man's Search for Meaning," by Viktor Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist who survived years in a Nazi concentration camp. Frankl used this Nietzsche quote to explain to us that when we can no longer change our circumstances, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Mark Pollock: Eventually, I did rebuild my identity, and the Why for me was about competing again, because pursuing success and risking failure was simply how I felt normal. And I finished the rebuild on the 10th anniversary of losing my sight. I took part in a 43-day expedition race in the coldest, most remote, most challenging place on earth. It was the first race to the South Pole since Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen set foot in Antarctica, 100 years before. And putting the demons of blindness behind me with every step towards the pole, it offered me a long-lasting sense of contentment.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
human endeavor 4
spinal cord 3
electrical stimulation 3
met mark 2
south pole 2
brutal facts 2
raging river 2
shortened life 2
life spans 2
canceling hope 2
san francisco 2
francisco engineers 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
shortened life spans 2
san francisco engineers 2

Important Words


  1. amundsen
  2. anniversary
  3. antarctica
  4. asked
  5. bear
  6. beautiful
  7. blindness
  8. book
  9. called
  10. camp
  11. challenged
  12. challenging
  13. change
  14. circumstances
  15. coldest
  16. competing
  17. concentration
  18. contentment
  19. demons
  20. earth
  21. eventually
  22. expedition
  23. explain
  24. failure
  25. felt
  26. finished
  27. foot
  28. frankl
  29. identity
  30. led
  31. life
  32. live
  33. longer
  34. losing
  35. mark
  36. meaning
  37. nazi
  38. neurologist
  39. nietzsche
  40. normal
  41. offered
  42. part
  43. place
  44. pole
  45. psychiatrist
  46. pursuing
  47. putting
  48. quote
  49. quoted
  50. race
  51. rebuild
  52. remote
  53. risking
  54. scott
  55. search
  56. sense
  57. set
  58. shackleton
  59. sight
  60. simply
  61. south
  62. step
  63. success
  64. survived
  65. viktor
  66. years