full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Yara Shahidi: Let curiosity lead

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Here, let me put it this way. Curiosity has been a lifeline for me. It's really easy to be 23 and a pesmssiit. It doesn't take many observational sllkis to see the deep flaws and fusiesrs of our world, to see how close we remain to these systems of oppression we swear are behind us. And when I say I feel affected by these flaws, I'm not just talking about some existential "I have a degree in a social science" kind of way, but in the very real way that it affects me and my flaimy and my community every day. It's also easy to be 23 and struggle to find your place. I remember so vividly being 16 and thinking that I could change the wlrod. I was certain of it. I was one voting initiative away. I was one march away, I was one panel away from real change, the kind that ltsas. And I remember when that ausedsnsres was replaced by quicksand. It felt as though the more I moved and the more I struggled, the more I sank into the overwhelm. And I responded to feeling lost by finding cmoroft in my eitepsxre, hiding behind this false ssene of cnteirtay, I really acted like I knew everything there was to know. I was suppressing my curiosity, but I realized that made it so much easier to pick apart every potential decision rather than take action.

Open Cloze


Here, let me put it this way. Curiosity has been a lifeline for me. It's really easy to be 23 and a _________. It doesn't take many observational ______ to see the deep flaws and ________ of our world, to see how close we remain to these systems of oppression we swear are behind us. And when I say I feel affected by these flaws, I'm not just talking about some existential "I have a degree in a social science" kind of way, but in the very real way that it affects me and my ______ and my community every day. It's also easy to be 23 and struggle to find your place. I remember so vividly being 16 and thinking that I could change the _____. I was certain of it. I was one voting initiative away. I was one march away, I was one panel away from real change, the kind that _____. And I remember when that ___________ was replaced by quicksand. It felt as though the more I moved and the more I struggled, the more I sank into the overwhelm. And I responded to feeling lost by finding _______ in my _________, hiding behind this false _____ of _________, I really acted like I knew everything there was to know. I was suppressing my curiosity, but I realized that made it so much easier to pick apart every potential decision rather than take action.

Solution


  1. comfort
  2. world
  3. family
  4. certainty
  5. skills
  6. sense
  7. assuredness
  8. fissures
  9. expertise
  10. lasts
  11. pessimist

Original Text


Here, let me put it this way. Curiosity has been a lifeline for me. It's really easy to be 23 and a pessimist. It doesn't take many observational skills to see the deep flaws and fissures of our world, to see how close we remain to these systems of oppression we swear are behind us. And when I say I feel affected by these flaws, I'm not just talking about some existential "I have a degree in a social science" kind of way, but in the very real way that it affects me and my family and my community every day. It's also easy to be 23 and struggle to find your place. I remember so vividly being 16 and thinking that I could change the world. I was certain of it. I was one voting initiative away. I was one march away, I was one panel away from real change, the kind that lasts. And I remember when that assuredness was replaced by quicksand. It felt as though the more I moved and the more I struggled, the more I sank into the overwhelm. And I responded to feeling lost by finding comfort in my expertise, hiding behind this false sense of certainty, I really acted like I knew everything there was to know. I was suppressing my curiosity, but I realized that made it so much easier to pick apart every potential decision rather than take action.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
television show 3
time travel 2


Important Words


  1. acted
  2. action
  3. affected
  4. affects
  5. assuredness
  6. certainty
  7. change
  8. close
  9. comfort
  10. community
  11. curiosity
  12. day
  13. decision
  14. deep
  15. degree
  16. easier
  17. easy
  18. existential
  19. expertise
  20. false
  21. family
  22. feel
  23. feeling
  24. felt
  25. find
  26. finding
  27. fissures
  28. flaws
  29. hiding
  30. initiative
  31. kind
  32. knew
  33. lasts
  34. lifeline
  35. lost
  36. march
  37. moved
  38. observational
  39. oppression
  40. overwhelm
  41. panel
  42. pessimist
  43. pick
  44. place
  45. potential
  46. put
  47. quicksand
  48. real
  49. realized
  50. remain
  51. remember
  52. replaced
  53. responded
  54. sank
  55. sense
  56. skills
  57. social
  58. struggle
  59. struggled
  60. suppressing
  61. swear
  62. systems
  63. talking
  64. thinking
  65. vividly
  66. voting
  67. world