full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Steven Pinker: Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers

Unscramble the Blue Letters


We will never have a perfect wolrd, and it would be dangerous to seek one. But there's no limit to the betterments we can aaittn if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing. This hieroc story is not just another myth. Myths are fictions, but this one is true, true to the best of our kwegondle, which is the only truth we can have. As we learn more, we can show which parts of the story continue to be true and which ones false, as any of them might be and any could become.

And this story belongs not to any tribe but to all of hutnmaiy, to any sentient ctaerrue with the power of reason and the urge to persist in its being, for it requires only the convictions that life is better than death, htaelh is better than sickness, abundance is better than want, freedom is better than coercion, happiness is better than suffering and knowledge is better than ignorance and superstition.

Open Cloze


We will never have a perfect _____, and it would be dangerous to seek one. But there's no limit to the betterments we can ______ if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing. This ______ story is not just another myth. Myths are fictions, but this one is true, true to the best of our _________, which is the only truth we can have. As we learn more, we can show which parts of the story continue to be true and which ones false, as any of them might be and any could become.

And this story belongs not to any tribe but to all of ________, to any sentient ________ with the power of reason and the urge to persist in its being, for it requires only the convictions that life is better than death, ______ is better than sickness, abundance is better than want, freedom is better than coercion, happiness is better than suffering and knowledge is better than ignorance and superstition.

Solution


  1. knowledge
  2. health
  3. world
  4. humanity
  5. attain
  6. creature
  7. heroic

Original Text


We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one. But there's no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing. This heroic story is not just another myth. Myths are fictions, but this one is true, true to the best of our knowledge, which is the only truth we can have. As we learn more, we can show which parts of the story continue to be true and which ones false, as any of them might be and any could become.

And this story belongs not to any tribe but to all of humanity, to any sentient creature with the power of reason and the urge to persist in its being, for it requires only the convictions that life is better than death, health is better than sickness, abundance is better than want, freedom is better than coercion, happiness is better than suffering and knowledge is better than ignorance and superstition.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
million tons 4
extreme poverty 4
nuclear weapons 3
united states 3
climate change 3
particulate matter 2
sulfur dioxide 2
world population 2
intellectuals hate 2
hate progress 2
natural response 2
enhance human 2
human nature 2


Important Words


  1. abundance
  2. apply
  3. attain
  4. belongs
  5. betterments
  6. coercion
  7. continue
  8. convictions
  9. creature
  10. dangerous
  11. death
  12. enhance
  13. false
  14. fictions
  15. flourishing
  16. freedom
  17. happiness
  18. health
  19. heroic
  20. human
  21. humanity
  22. ignorance
  23. knowledge
  24. learn
  25. life
  26. limit
  27. myth
  28. myths
  29. parts
  30. perfect
  31. persist
  32. power
  33. reason
  34. requires
  35. seek
  36. sentient
  37. show
  38. sickness
  39. story
  40. suffering
  41. superstition
  42. tribe
  43. true
  44. truth
  45. urge
  46. world