full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Yifat Susskind: In uncertain times, think like a mother

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Today, there is a new set of necessary ideas that seem impossible but one day will feel inevitable: that we could end violence against women, make war a thing of the past, learn to live in balance with nturae before it's too late and make sure that everybody has what they need to thrive.

Of course, being able to picture a future like this is not the same thing as knowing what to do to make it come about, but thinking like a mother can help with that, too. A few years ago, East Africa was gripped by a famine, and women I know from soimlaa wlaked for days carrying their hungry children in search of food and water. A quarter of a million people died, and half of them were babies and toddlers. And while this ctahrpatsoe uedonlfd, too much of the world looked away. But a group of wmoen ferarms in Sudan, including ftiama Ahmed — that's her holding the corn — heard about what was happening. And they pooled together the extra money that they had from their harvest and asekd me to send it to those Somali mothers. Now, these farmers could have decided that they didn't have the power to act. They were barely getting by themselves, some of them. They lived without electricity, without furniture. But they oveordre that. They did what mothers do: they saw themselves as the solution and they took action.

Open Cloze


Today, there is a new set of necessary ideas that seem impossible but one day will feel inevitable: that we could end violence against women, make war a thing of the past, learn to live in balance with ______ before it's too late and make sure that everybody has what they need to thrive.

Of course, being able to picture a future like this is not the same thing as knowing what to do to make it come about, but thinking like a mother can help with that, too. A few years ago, East Africa was gripped by a famine, and women I know from _______ ______ for days carrying their hungry children in search of food and water. A quarter of a million people died, and half of them were babies and toddlers. And while this ___________ ________, too much of the world looked away. But a group of _____ _______ in Sudan, including ______ Ahmed — that's her holding the corn — heard about what was happening. And they pooled together the extra money that they had from their harvest and _____ me to send it to those Somali mothers. Now, these farmers could have decided that they didn't have the power to act. They were barely getting by themselves, some of them. They lived without electricity, without furniture. But they ________ that. They did what mothers do: they saw themselves as the solution and they took action.

Solution


  1. walked
  2. farmers
  3. unfolded
  4. catastrophe
  5. overrode
  6. nature
  7. fatima
  8. somalia
  9. asked
  10. women

Original Text


Today, there is a new set of necessary ideas that seem impossible but one day will feel inevitable: that we could end violence against women, make war a thing of the past, learn to live in balance with nature before it's too late and make sure that everybody has what they need to thrive.

Of course, being able to picture a future like this is not the same thing as knowing what to do to make it come about, but thinking like a mother can help with that, too. A few years ago, East Africa was gripped by a famine, and women I know from Somalia walked for days carrying their hungry children in search of food and water. A quarter of a million people died, and half of them were babies and toddlers. And while this catastrophe unfolded, too much of the world looked away. But a group of women farmers in Sudan, including Fatima Ahmed — that's her holding the corn — heard about what was happening. And they pooled together the extra money that they had from their harvest and asked me to send it to those Somali mothers. Now, these farmers could have decided that they didn't have the power to act. They were barely getting by themselves, some of them. They lived without electricity, without furniture. But they overrode that. They did what mothers do: they saw themselves as the solution and they took action.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
uncharted territory 2
armed lifeboat 2


Important Words


  1. act
  2. action
  3. africa
  4. ahmed
  5. asked
  6. babies
  7. balance
  8. barely
  9. carrying
  10. catastrophe
  11. children
  12. corn
  13. day
  14. days
  15. decided
  16. died
  17. east
  18. electricity
  19. extra
  20. famine
  21. farmers
  22. fatima
  23. feel
  24. food
  25. furniture
  26. future
  27. gripped
  28. group
  29. happening
  30. harvest
  31. heard
  32. holding
  33. hungry
  34. ideas
  35. impossible
  36. including
  37. knowing
  38. late
  39. learn
  40. live
  41. lived
  42. looked
  43. million
  44. money
  45. mother
  46. mothers
  47. nature
  48. overrode
  49. people
  50. picture
  51. pooled
  52. power
  53. quarter
  54. search
  55. send
  56. set
  57. solution
  58. somali
  59. somalia
  60. sudan
  61. thinking
  62. thrive
  63. today
  64. toddlers
  65. unfolded
  66. violence
  67. walked
  68. war
  69. water
  70. women
  71. world
  72. years