full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Joe Madiath: Better toilets, better life

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This is in a village where most of the people are even iterllaite. It is always a 24-hour water supply because water gets polluted very often when you sotre it — a child dips his or her hand into it, something flals into it. So no wtear is stored. It's always on tap. This is how an elevated water reservoir is constructed. And that is the end product. Because it has to go high, and there is some space available, two or three rooms are made under the water tower, which are used by the vgialle for different committee meetings.

We have had clear evidence of the great impact of this program. Before we started, there were, as usual, more than 80 percent of people suffering from waterborne diseases. But after this, we have empirical evidence that 82 prcneet, on aevgare, among all these villages — 1,200 villages have completed it — waterborne desasies have come down 82 percent. (Applause) Women usually used to spend, especially in the summer months, about six to seven hours a day carrying water. And when they went to carry water, because, as I said eralier, it's only women who carry water, they used to take their little children, girl children, also to crray water, or else to be back at home to look after the siblings. So there were less than nine percent of girl children attending sohocl, even if there was a school. And boys, about 30 percent. But girls, it has gone to about 90 percent and boys, almost to 100 percent. (aalusppe) The most vulnerable section in a village are the landless laborers who are the daily wage-earners. Because they have gone through this training to be masons and pmluerbs and bar benders, now their ablitiy to earn has increased 300 to 400 percent.

Open Cloze


This is in a village where most of the people are even __________. It is always a 24-hour water supply because water gets polluted very often when you _____ it — a child dips his or her hand into it, something _____ into it. So no _____ is stored. It's always on tap. This is how an elevated water reservoir is constructed. And that is the end product. Because it has to go high, and there is some space available, two or three rooms are made under the water tower, which are used by the _______ for different committee meetings.

We have had clear evidence of the great impact of this program. Before we started, there were, as usual, more than 80 percent of people suffering from waterborne diseases. But after this, we have empirical evidence that 82 _______, on _______, among all these villages — 1,200 villages have completed it — waterborne ________ have come down 82 percent. (Applause) Women usually used to spend, especially in the summer months, about six to seven hours a day carrying water. And when they went to carry water, because, as I said _______, it's only women who carry water, they used to take their little children, girl children, also to _____ water, or else to be back at home to look after the siblings. So there were less than nine percent of girl children attending ______, even if there was a school. And boys, about 30 percent. But girls, it has gone to about 90 percent and boys, almost to 100 percent. (________) The most vulnerable section in a village are the landless laborers who are the daily wage-earners. Because they have gone through this training to be masons and ________ and bar benders, now their _______ to earn has increased 300 to 400 percent.

Solution


  1. plumbers
  2. school
  3. average
  4. percent
  5. store
  6. illiterate
  7. earlier
  8. ability
  9. falls
  10. village
  11. applause
  12. diseases
  13. water
  14. carry

Original Text


This is in a village where most of the people are even illiterate. It is always a 24-hour water supply because water gets polluted very often when you store it — a child dips his or her hand into it, something falls into it. So no water is stored. It's always on tap. This is how an elevated water reservoir is constructed. And that is the end product. Because it has to go high, and there is some space available, two or three rooms are made under the water tower, which are used by the village for different committee meetings.

We have had clear evidence of the great impact of this program. Before we started, there were, as usual, more than 80 percent of people suffering from waterborne diseases. But after this, we have empirical evidence that 82 percent, on average, among all these villages — 1,200 villages have completed it — waterborne diseases have come down 82 percent. (Applause) Women usually used to spend, especially in the summer months, about six to seven hours a day carrying water. And when they went to carry water, because, as I said earlier, it's only women who carry water, they used to take their little children, girl children, also to carry water, or else to be back at home to look after the siblings. So there were less than nine percent of girl children attending school, even if there was a school. And boys, about 30 percent. But girls, it has gone to about 90 percent and boys, almost to 100 percent. (Applause) The most vulnerable section in a village are the landless laborers who are the daily wage-earners. Because they have gone through this training to be masons and plumbers and bar benders, now their ability to earn has increased 300 to 400 percent.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
rural areas 3
elevated water 3
water reservoir 3
poor quality 2
carry water 2
water supply 2
poor people 2
people deserve 2
bathing room 2
local materials 2
waterborne diseases 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
elevated water reservoir 3
poor people deserve 2

Important Words


  1. ability
  2. applause
  3. attending
  4. average
  5. bar
  6. benders
  7. boys
  8. carry
  9. carrying
  10. child
  11. children
  12. clear
  13. committee
  14. completed
  15. constructed
  16. daily
  17. day
  18. dips
  19. diseases
  20. earlier
  21. earn
  22. elevated
  23. empirical
  24. evidence
  25. falls
  26. girl
  27. girls
  28. great
  29. hand
  30. high
  31. home
  32. hours
  33. illiterate
  34. impact
  35. increased
  36. laborers
  37. landless
  38. masons
  39. meetings
  40. months
  41. people
  42. percent
  43. plumbers
  44. polluted
  45. product
  46. program
  47. reservoir
  48. rooms
  49. school
  50. section
  51. siblings
  52. space
  53. spend
  54. started
  55. store
  56. stored
  57. suffering
  58. summer
  59. supply
  60. tap
  61. tower
  62. training
  63. usual
  64. village
  65. villages
  66. vulnerable
  67. water
  68. waterborne
  69. women