full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Dan Barasch: A park underneath the hustle and bustle of New York City

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The New York City that I eeonerutncd felt pretty built up. I always knew as a kid that I wanted to make a difference, and to somehow make the world more beautiful, more interesting and more just. I just didn't really know how. At first, I thhuogt I wanted to go work abroad, so I took a job with ucenif in Kenya. But it felt weird to me that I knew more about local Kenyan politics than the pltiiocs of my own hometown. I took a job with the City of New York, but very quickly felt frustrated with the solsewns of government bucraeuracy. I even took a job at Google, where very fast I drank the Kool-Aid and believed almost wholeheartedly that tlenogohcy could solve all scoial problems. But I still didn't feel like I was making the world a better place.

Open Cloze


The New York City that I ___________ felt pretty built up. I always knew as a kid that I wanted to make a difference, and to somehow make the world more beautiful, more interesting and more just. I just didn't really know how. At first, I _______ I wanted to go work abroad, so I took a job with ______ in Kenya. But it felt weird to me that I knew more about local Kenyan politics than the ________ of my own hometown. I took a job with the City of New York, but very quickly felt frustrated with the ________ of government ___________. I even took a job at Google, where very fast I drank the Kool-Aid and believed almost wholeheartedly that __________ could solve all ______ problems. But I still didn't feel like I was making the world a better place.

Solution


  1. encountered
  2. slowness
  3. politics
  4. thought
  5. bureaucracy
  6. unicef
  7. technology
  8. social

Original Text


The New York City that I encountered felt pretty built up. I always knew as a kid that I wanted to make a difference, and to somehow make the world more beautiful, more interesting and more just. I just didn't really know how. At first, I thought I wanted to go work abroad, so I took a job with UNICEF in Kenya. But it felt weird to me that I knew more about local Kenyan politics than the politics of my own hometown. I took a job with the City of New York, but very quickly felt frustrated with the slowness of government bureaucracy. I even took a job at Google, where very fast I drank the Kool-Aid and believed almost wholeheartedly that technology could solve all social problems. But I still didn't feel like I was making the world a better place.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
green space 5
york city 4
football field 2
solar canopy 2
invite people 2


Important Words


  1. beautiful
  2. believed
  3. built
  4. bureaucracy
  5. city
  6. difference
  7. drank
  8. encountered
  9. fast
  10. feel
  11. felt
  12. frustrated
  13. google
  14. government
  15. hometown
  16. interesting
  17. job
  18. kenya
  19. kenyan
  20. kid
  21. knew
  22. local
  23. making
  24. place
  25. politics
  26. pretty
  27. problems
  28. quickly
  29. slowness
  30. social
  31. solve
  32. technology
  33. thought
  34. unicef
  35. wanted
  36. weird
  37. wholeheartedly
  38. work
  39. world
  40. york