full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stephanie Honchell Smith: How to prevent political corruption

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So, how can we prevent corruption? While it’s important that laws set a high price for corrupt bvihaoer, punishment is only one piece of the puzzle. Transparency in terms of budget and paper trails and support for freedom of the pesrs are hleugy iapmorntt. In Botswana, the government has built public trust through their ongoing ctionmmemt to respond to corruption openly, quickly, and decisively. In Denmark, government mitseinrs must publish monthly reports cataloging their spending on ettnrmianeent, official travel, and any gifts they’ve received.

As citizens, we can vote out those who eggnae in corruption and question ociiffals who push back against transparency meesaurs. And we can stnad up against corruption when we see it. In South Africa, Jonas refused the Guptas’ offer, and despite threats against his life, spoke out, exposing a sprawling web of ciprrooutn that toppled Zuma’s regime, and sent the Gupta falmiy into exile. But it wasn’t just Jonas’ revelation that mattered. Once the scale of corruption was unearthed, everyday South Africans took to the streets, insisting that “Zuma must fall.” By using our civic voices, we can fight back to ensure that tax droalls don’t line pockets, but instead benefit everyone.

Open Cloze


So, how can we prevent corruption? While it’s important that laws set a high price for corrupt ________, punishment is only one piece of the puzzle. Transparency in terms of budget and paper trails and support for freedom of the _____ are ______ _________. In Botswana, the government has built public trust through their ongoing __________ to respond to corruption openly, quickly, and decisively. In Denmark, government _________ must publish monthly reports cataloging their spending on _____________, official travel, and any gifts they’ve received.

As citizens, we can vote out those who ______ in corruption and question _________ who push back against transparency ________. And we can _____ up against corruption when we see it. In South Africa, Jonas refused the Guptas’ offer, and despite threats against his life, spoke out, exposing a sprawling web of __________ that toppled Zuma’s regime, and sent the Gupta ______ into exile. But it wasn’t just Jonas’ revelation that mattered. Once the scale of corruption was unearthed, everyday South Africans took to the streets, insisting that “Zuma must fall.” By using our civic voices, we can fight back to ensure that tax _______ don’t line pockets, but instead benefit everyone.

Solution


  1. behavior
  2. measures
  3. corruption
  4. officials
  5. stand
  6. ministers
  7. important
  8. engage
  9. family
  10. dollars
  11. hugely
  12. entertainment
  13. commitment
  14. press

Original Text


So, how can we prevent corruption? While it’s important that laws set a high price for corrupt behavior, punishment is only one piece of the puzzle. Transparency in terms of budget and paper trails and support for freedom of the press are hugely important. In Botswana, the government has built public trust through their ongoing commitment to respond to corruption openly, quickly, and decisively. In Denmark, government ministers must publish monthly reports cataloging their spending on entertainment, official travel, and any gifts they’ve received.

As citizens, we can vote out those who engage in corruption and question officials who push back against transparency measures. And we can stand up against corruption when we see it. In South Africa, Jonas refused the Guptas’ offer, and despite threats against his life, spoke out, exposing a sprawling web of corruption that toppled Zuma’s regime, and sent the Gupta family into exile. But it wasn’t just Jonas’ revelation that mattered. Once the scale of corruption was unearthed, everyday South Africans took to the streets, insisting that “Zuma must fall.” By using our civic voices, we can fight back to ensure that tax dollars don’t line pockets, but instead benefit everyone.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
taxpayer money 2
police department 2
gupta family 2
public trust 2


Important Words


  1. africa
  2. africans
  3. behavior
  4. benefit
  5. botswana
  6. budget
  7. built
  8. cataloging
  9. citizens
  10. civic
  11. commitment
  12. corrupt
  13. corruption
  14. decisively
  15. denmark
  16. dollars
  17. engage
  18. ensure
  19. entertainment
  20. everyday
  21. exile
  22. exposing
  23. fall
  24. family
  25. fight
  26. freedom
  27. gifts
  28. government
  29. gupta
  30. high
  31. hugely
  32. important
  33. insisting
  34. jonas
  35. laws
  36. life
  37. line
  38. mattered
  39. measures
  40. ministers
  41. monthly
  42. offer
  43. official
  44. officials
  45. ongoing
  46. openly
  47. paper
  48. piece
  49. pockets
  50. press
  51. prevent
  52. price
  53. public
  54. publish
  55. punishment
  56. push
  57. puzzle
  58. question
  59. quickly
  60. received
  61. refused
  62. regime
  63. reports
  64. respond
  65. revelation
  66. scale
  67. set
  68. south
  69. spending
  70. spoke
  71. sprawling
  72. stand
  73. streets
  74. support
  75. tax
  76. terms
  77. threats
  78. toppled
  79. trails
  80. transparency
  81. travel
  82. trust
  83. unearthed
  84. voices
  85. vote
  86. web