full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Pawan Sinha: How brains learn to see

Unscramble the Blue Letters


If you are a blind cihld in India, you will very likely have to cnentod with at least two big pieces of bad news. The first bad news is that the cnehcas of getting tnmeratet are extremely slim to none, and that's because most of the blindness alleviation programs in the country are focused on adults, and there are very, very few hospitals that are actually equipped to treat children. In fact, if you were to be tatreed, you might well end up being treated by a person who has no medical credentials as this case from rasajhatn illustrates. This is a three-year-old orphan girl who had cataracts. So, her ctreaaerks took her to the village medicine man, and instead of sgsuetingg to the caretakers that the girl be taken to a hospital, the person decided to burn her abdomen with red-hot iron bars to drive out the demons. The second piece of bad news will be develired to you by neuroscientists, who will tell you that if you are oeldr than four or five years of age, that even if you have your eye corrected, the chances of your brain learning how to see are very, very slim — again, slim or none.

Open Cloze


If you are a blind _____ in India, you will very likely have to _______ with at least two big pieces of bad news. The first bad news is that the _______ of getting _________ are extremely slim to none, and that's because most of the blindness alleviation programs in the country are focused on adults, and there are very, very few hospitals that are actually equipped to treat children. In fact, if you were to be _______, you might well end up being treated by a person who has no medical credentials as this case from _________ illustrates. This is a three-year-old orphan girl who had cataracts. So, her __________ took her to the village medicine man, and instead of __________ to the caretakers that the girl be taken to a hospital, the person decided to burn her abdomen with red-hot iron bars to drive out the demons. The second piece of bad news will be _________ to you by neuroscientists, who will tell you that if you are _____ than four or five years of age, that even if you have your eye corrected, the chances of your brain learning how to see are very, very slim — again, slim or none.

Solution


  1. suggesting
  2. treated
  3. delivered
  4. treatment
  5. rajasthan
  6. caretakers
  7. older
  8. child
  9. contend
  10. chances

Original Text


If you are a blind child in India, you will very likely have to contend with at least two big pieces of bad news. The first bad news is that the chances of getting treatment are extremely slim to none, and that's because most of the blindness alleviation programs in the country are focused on adults, and there are very, very few hospitals that are actually equipped to treat children. In fact, if you were to be treated, you might well end up being treated by a person who has no medical credentials as this case from Rajasthan illustrates. This is a three-year-old orphan girl who had cataracts. So, her caretakers took her to the village medicine man, and instead of suggesting to the caretakers that the girl be taken to a hospital, the person decided to burn her abdomen with red-hot iron bars to drive out the demons. The second piece of bad news will be delivered to you by neuroscientists, who will tell you that if you are older than four or five years of age, that even if you have your eye corrected, the chances of your brain learning how to see are very, very slim — again, slim or none.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
dynamic information 5
bad news 3
project prakash 3
visual integration 3
personal reason 2
inspiring story 2
real world 2
test dylan 2
prakash center 2


Important Words


  1. abdomen
  2. adults
  3. age
  4. alleviation
  5. bad
  6. bars
  7. big
  8. blind
  9. blindness
  10. brain
  11. burn
  12. caretakers
  13. case
  14. cataracts
  15. chances
  16. child
  17. children
  18. contend
  19. corrected
  20. country
  21. credentials
  22. decided
  23. delivered
  24. demons
  25. drive
  26. equipped
  27. extremely
  28. eye
  29. fact
  30. focused
  31. girl
  32. hospital
  33. hospitals
  34. illustrates
  35. india
  36. iron
  37. learning
  38. man
  39. medical
  40. medicine
  41. neuroscientists
  42. news
  43. older
  44. orphan
  45. person
  46. piece
  47. pieces
  48. programs
  49. rajasthan
  50. slim
  51. suggesting
  52. treat
  53. treated
  54. treatment
  55. village
  56. years