full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Steven Pinker: Human nature and the blank slate

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Well, here's a diagnosis. They didn't ask me, but by their own admission, they need all the help that they can get. And I would like to suggest that it's not a coincidence that this supposed decline in the elite arts and criticism occurred in the same pnoit in history in which there was a widespread denial of human nature. A famous qioatuotn can be found — if you look on the web, you can find it in literally scores of English core syllabuses — "In or about December 1910, huamn naurte changed." A pparrhsaae of a quote by Virginia Woolf, and there's some debate as to what she actually maent by that. But it's very clear, looking at these sylaeulsbs, that — it's used now as a way of saying that all forms of appreciation of art that were in place for centuries, or millennia, in the 20th century were discarded. The beauty and pleasure in art — probably a human universal — were — began to be considered saccharine, or kiscth, or commercial. Barnett Newman had a famous qtoue that "the impulse of modern art is the dsriee to destroy beauty" — which was considered bourgeois or tacky. And here's just one example. I mean, this is perhaps a representative example of the visual depiction of the female form in the 15th century; here is a representative example of the dipcteion of the female form in the 20th century. And, as you can see, there — something has changed in the way the elite arts appael to the senses.

Open Cloze


Well, here's a diagnosis. They didn't ask me, but by their own admission, they need all the help that they can get. And I would like to suggest that it's not a coincidence that this supposed decline in the elite arts and criticism occurred in the same _____ in history in which there was a widespread denial of human nature. A famous _________ can be found — if you look on the web, you can find it in literally scores of English core syllabuses — "In or about December 1910, _____ ______ changed." A __________ of a quote by Virginia Woolf, and there's some debate as to what she actually _____ by that. But it's very clear, looking at these __________, that — it's used now as a way of saying that all forms of appreciation of art that were in place for centuries, or millennia, in the 20th century were discarded. The beauty and pleasure in art — probably a human universal — were — began to be considered saccharine, or ______, or commercial. Barnett Newman had a famous _____ that "the impulse of modern art is the ______ to destroy beauty" — which was considered bourgeois or tacky. And here's just one example. I mean, this is perhaps a representative example of the visual depiction of the female form in the 15th century; here is a representative example of the _________ of the female form in the 20th century. And, as you can see, there — something has changed in the way the elite arts ______ to the senses.

Solution


  1. human
  2. desire
  3. kitsch
  4. meant
  5. paraphrase
  6. depiction
  7. nature
  8. quote
  9. syllabuses
  10. point
  11. quotation
  12. appeal

Original Text


Well, here's a diagnosis. They didn't ask me, but by their own admission, they need all the help that they can get. And I would like to suggest that it's not a coincidence that this supposed decline in the elite arts and criticism occurred in the same point in history in which there was a widespread denial of human nature. A famous quotation can be found — if you look on the web, you can find it in literally scores of English core syllabuses — "In or about December 1910, human nature changed." A paraphrase of a quote by Virginia Woolf, and there's some debate as to what she actually meant by that. But it's very clear, looking at these syllabuses, that — it's used now as a way of saying that all forms of appreciation of art that were in place for centuries, or millennia, in the 20th century were discarded. The beauty and pleasure in art — probably a human universal — were — began to be considered saccharine, or kitsch, or commercial. Barnett Newman had a famous quote that "the impulse of modern art is the desire to destroy beauty" — which was considered bourgeois or tacky. And here's just one example. I mean, this is perhaps a representative example of the visual depiction of the female form in the 15th century; here is a representative example of the depiction of the female form in the 20th century. And, as you can see, there — something has changed in the way the elite arts appeal to the senses.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
identical twins 5
gray matter 4
human nature 4
human mind 3
twins separated 3
elite art 3
common sense 2
house pet 2
human universals 2
fraternal twins 2
mallifert twins 2
astonishing similarities 2
blank slate 2
human universal 2
elite arts 2
female form 2
chance events 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
identical twins separated 2

Important Words


  1. admission
  2. appeal
  3. appreciation
  4. art
  5. arts
  6. barnett
  7. beauty
  8. began
  9. bourgeois
  10. centuries
  11. century
  12. changed
  13. clear
  14. coincidence
  15. commercial
  16. considered
  17. core
  18. criticism
  19. debate
  20. december
  21. decline
  22. denial
  23. depiction
  24. desire
  25. destroy
  26. diagnosis
  27. discarded
  28. elite
  29. english
  30. famous
  31. female
  32. find
  33. form
  34. forms
  35. history
  36. human
  37. impulse
  38. kitsch
  39. literally
  40. meant
  41. millennia
  42. modern
  43. nature
  44. newman
  45. occurred
  46. paraphrase
  47. place
  48. pleasure
  49. point
  50. quotation
  51. quote
  52. representative
  53. saccharine
  54. scores
  55. senses
  56. suggest
  57. supposed
  58. syllabuses
  59. tacky
  60. universal
  61. virginia
  62. visual
  63. web
  64. widespread
  65. woolf