full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Marwa Al-Sabouni: How Syria's architecture laid the foundation for brutal war

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When I look at my destroyed city, of course, I ask myself: What has led to this senseless war? Syria was largely a place of tolerance, historically aeomcutcsd to variety, amnmacocditog a wide range of beliefs, onirigs, customs, goods, food. How did my coutnry — a country with communities living harmoniously together and comfortable in discussing their differences — how did it deegaetrne into civil war, violence, displacement and unprecedented sectarian hatred? There were many reasons that had led to the war — social, pioicltal and economic. They all have played their role. But I believe there is one key reason that has been overlooked and which is iarnmtopt to analyze, because from it will largely denepd whether we can make sure that this doesn't happen again. And that reason is architecture.

Open Cloze


When I look at my destroyed city, of course, I ask myself: What has led to this senseless war? Syria was largely a place of tolerance, historically __________ to variety, _____________ a wide range of beliefs, _______, customs, goods, food. How did my _______ — a country with communities living harmoniously together and comfortable in discussing their differences — how did it __________ into civil war, violence, displacement and unprecedented sectarian hatred? There were many reasons that had led to the war — social, _________ and economic. They all have played their role. But I believe there is one key reason that has been overlooked and which is _________ to analyze, because from it will largely ______ whether we can make sure that this doesn't happen again. And that reason is architecture.

Solution


  1. accommodating
  2. depend
  3. important
  4. political
  5. degenerate
  6. country
  7. accustomed
  8. origins

Original Text


When I look at my destroyed city, of course, I ask myself: What has led to this senseless war? Syria was largely a place of tolerance, historically accustomed to variety, accommodating a wide range of beliefs, origins, customs, goods, food. How did my country — a country with communities living harmoniously together and comfortable in discussing their differences — how did it degenerate into civil war, violence, displacement and unprecedented sectarian hatred? There were many reasons that had led to the war — social, political and economic. They all have played their role. But I believe there is one key reason that has been overlooked and which is important to analyze, because from it will largely depend whether we can make sure that this doesn't happen again. And that reason is architecture.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
built environment 4
islamic city 2
syrian cities 2
people feel 2
baba amr 2


Important Words


  1. accommodating
  2. accustomed
  3. analyze
  4. architecture
  5. beliefs
  6. city
  7. civil
  8. comfortable
  9. communities
  10. country
  11. customs
  12. degenerate
  13. depend
  14. destroyed
  15. differences
  16. discussing
  17. displacement
  18. economic
  19. food
  20. goods
  21. happen
  22. harmoniously
  23. hatred
  24. historically
  25. important
  26. key
  27. largely
  28. led
  29. living
  30. origins
  31. overlooked
  32. place
  33. played
  34. political
  35. range
  36. reason
  37. reasons
  38. role
  39. sectarian
  40. senseless
  41. social
  42. syria
  43. tolerance
  44. unprecedented
  45. variety
  46. violence
  47. war
  48. wide