full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Keith Barry: Brain magic

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

(Laughter ends)

Now you can see how easy it is for me to manipulate the human mind, once you know how.

(Laughter)

Now, I remember when I was about 15,

(Laughter)

I read a copy of Life magazine, which daietled a story about a 75-year-old blind ruisasn woman who could sense prnietd letters — there's still people trying to do it —

(lghetaur)

— who could ssene printed lerttes and even sense colors, just by touch. And she was completely blind. She could also read the serial numbers on bills when they were placed, face down, on a hard sfucrae. Now, I was fascinated, but at the same time, skeptical. How could somebody read using their fingertips? You know, if you actually think about it, if somebody is totally blind — a guy yesterday did a demonstration in one of the rmoos, where people had to close their eyes and they could just hear things. And it's just a really weird thing to try and figure out. How could somebody read using their fingertips?

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

(Laughter ends)

Now you can see how easy it is for me to manipulate the human mind, once you know how.

(Laughter)

Now, I remember when I was about 15,

(Laughter)

I read a copy of Life magazine, which ________ a story about a 75-year-old blind _______ woman who could sense _______ letters — there's still people trying to do it —

(________)

— who could _____ printed _______ and even sense colors, just by touch. And she was completely blind. She could also read the serial numbers on bills when they were placed, face down, on a hard _______. Now, I was fascinated, but at the same time, skeptical. How could somebody read using their fingertips? You know, if you actually think about it, if somebody is totally blind — a guy yesterday did a demonstration in one of the _____, where people had to close their eyes and they could just hear things. And it's just a really weird thing to try and figure out. How could somebody read using their fingertips?

Solution


  1. surface
  2. letters
  3. russian
  4. laughter
  5. rooms
  6. detailed
  7. printed
  8. sense

Original Text


(Laughter)

(Laughter ends)

Now you can see how easy it is for me to manipulate the human mind, once you know how.

(Laughter)

Now, I remember when I was about 15,

(Laughter)

I read a copy of Life magazine, which detailed a story about a 75-year-old blind Russian woman who could sense printed letters — there's still people trying to do it —

(Laughter)

— who could sense printed letters and even sense colors, just by touch. And she was completely blind. She could also read the serial numbers on bills when they were placed, face down, on a hard surface. Now, I was fascinated, but at the same time, skeptical. How could somebody read using their fingertips? You know, if you actually think about it, if somebody is totally blind — a guy yesterday did a demonstration in one of the rooms, where people had to close their eyes and they could just hear things. And it's just a really weird thing to try and figure out. How could somebody read using their fingertips?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
brain magic 3
coke bottle 3
negative energy 3
extra mix 3
left hand 2
sense printed 2
printed letters 2
voodoo experiment 2
relaxed state 2
stick firmly 2
good decision 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
sense printed letters 2

Important Words


  1. bills
  2. blind
  3. close
  4. colors
  5. completely
  6. copy
  7. demonstration
  8. detailed
  9. easy
  10. ends
  11. eyes
  12. face
  13. fascinated
  14. figure
  15. fingertips
  16. guy
  17. hard
  18. hear
  19. human
  20. laughter
  21. letters
  22. life
  23. magazine
  24. manipulate
  25. mind
  26. numbers
  27. people
  28. printed
  29. read
  30. remember
  31. rooms
  32. russian
  33. sense
  34. serial
  35. skeptical
  36. story
  37. surface
  38. time
  39. totally
  40. touch
  41. weird
  42. woman
  43. yesterday