full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Andrew Solomon: How the worst moments in our lives make us who we are

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In January of this year, I went to Myanmar to interview political prisoners, and I was surprised to find them less bitter than I'd anticipated. Most of them had kigownnly committed the offenses that landed them in prison, and they had walked in with their hdaes held high, and they walked out with their heads still held high, many years later. Dr. Ma Thida, a leading human rights atvcsiit who had nearly died in prison and had snpet many years in solitary confinement, told me she was grateful to her jailers for the time she had had to think, for the wisdom she had gained, for the chance to hone her meditation skills. She had sought maineng and made her tavrial into a crucial identity. But if the people I met were less bitter than I'd aipntaetcid about being in prison, they were also less thrilled than I'd expected about the reform process going on in their country. Ma Thida said, "We Burmese are noted for our tremendous gcrae under psrurese, but we also have grievance under galumor." She said, "And the fact that there have been these stfhis and changes doesn't erase the continuing problems in our sitcoey that we learned to see so well while we were in prison."

Open Cloze


In January of this year, I went to Myanmar to interview political prisoners, and I was surprised to find them less bitter than I'd anticipated. Most of them had _________ committed the offenses that landed them in prison, and they had walked in with their _____ held high, and they walked out with their heads still held high, many years later. Dr. Ma Thida, a leading human rights ________ who had nearly died in prison and had _____ many years in solitary confinement, told me she was grateful to her jailers for the time she had had to think, for the wisdom she had gained, for the chance to hone her meditation skills. She had sought _______ and made her _______ into a crucial identity. But if the people I met were less bitter than I'd ___________ about being in prison, they were also less thrilled than I'd expected about the reform process going on in their country. Ma Thida said, "We Burmese are noted for our tremendous _____ under ________, but we also have grievance under _______." She said, "And the fact that there have been these ______ and changes doesn't erase the continuing problems in our _______ that we learned to see so well while we were in prison."

Solution


  1. spent
  2. glamour
  3. knowingly
  4. pressure
  5. meaning
  6. grace
  7. anticipated
  8. heads
  9. activist
  10. society
  11. travail
  12. shifts

Original Text


In January of this year, I went to Myanmar to interview political prisoners, and I was surprised to find them less bitter than I'd anticipated. Most of them had knowingly committed the offenses that landed them in prison, and they had walked in with their heads held high, and they walked out with their heads still held high, many years later. Dr. Ma Thida, a leading human rights activist who had nearly died in prison and had spent many years in solitary confinement, told me she was grateful to her jailers for the time she had had to think, for the wisdom she had gained, for the chance to hone her meditation skills. She had sought meaning and made her travail into a crucial identity. But if the people I met were less bitter than I'd anticipated about being in prison, they were also less thrilled than I'd expected about the reform process going on in their country. Ma Thida said, "We Burmese are noted for our tremendous grace under pressure, but we also have grievance under glamour." She said, "And the fact that there have been these shifts and changes doesn't erase the continuing problems in our society that we learned to see so well while we were in prison."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
build identity 5
forge meaning 5
forging meaning 4
identity forge 3
identity politics 3
draw strength 2
school bus 2
building identity 2
forged meaning 2
painful experiences 2
gay rights 2
gay people 2
harvey milk 2
meaning build 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
build identity forge 2
identity forge meaning 2
forge meaning build 2
meaning build identity 2

Important Words


  1. activist
  2. anticipated
  3. bitter
  4. burmese
  5. chance
  6. committed
  7. confinement
  8. continuing
  9. country
  10. crucial
  11. died
  12. dr
  13. erase
  14. expected
  15. fact
  16. find
  17. gained
  18. glamour
  19. grace
  20. grateful
  21. grievance
  22. heads
  23. held
  24. high
  25. hone
  26. human
  27. identity
  28. interview
  29. jailers
  30. january
  31. knowingly
  32. landed
  33. leading
  34. learned
  35. ma
  36. meaning
  37. meditation
  38. met
  39. myanmar
  40. noted
  41. offenses
  42. people
  43. political
  44. pressure
  45. prison
  46. prisoners
  47. problems
  48. process
  49. reform
  50. rights
  51. shifts
  52. skills
  53. society
  54. solitary
  55. sought
  56. spent
  57. surprised
  58. thida
  59. thrilled
  60. time
  61. told
  62. travail
  63. tremendous
  64. walked
  65. wisdom
  66. year
  67. years