full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Heather Brooke: My battle to expose government corruption


Unscramble the Blue Letters


Once upon a time, the world was a big, dyuiasfcnnotl family. It was run by the great and powerful parents, and the people were helpless and hopeless naughty children. If any of the more rowdier children qoesinuted the authority of the parents, they were scolded. If they went exploring into the parents' romos, or even into the secret filing cabinets, they were pshniued, and told that for their own good they must never go in there again.

Then one day, a man came to town with bxoes and boxes of secret documents stolen from the parents' rooms. "Look what they've been hiding from you," he said. The children lekood and were aamezd. There were maps and minutes from meetings where the parents were slagging each other off. They behaved just like the children. And they made measitks, too, just like the children. The only difference was, their mistakes were in the seecrt filing cabinets. Well, there was a girl in the town, and she didn't think they should be in the secret fniilg cabinets, or if they were, there ought to be a law to allow the children access. And so she set about to make it so.

Open Cloze


Once upon a time, the world was a big, _____________ family. It was run by the great and powerful parents, and the people were helpless and hopeless naughty children. If any of the more rowdier children __________ the authority of the parents, they were scolded. If they went exploring into the parents' _____, or even into the secret filing cabinets, they were ________, and told that for their own good they must never go in there again.

Then one day, a man came to town with _____ and boxes of secret documents stolen from the parents' rooms. "Look what they've been hiding from you," he said. The children ______ and were ______. There were maps and minutes from meetings where the parents were slagging each other off. They behaved just like the children. And they made ________, too, just like the children. The only difference was, their mistakes were in the ______ filing cabinets. Well, there was a girl in the town, and she didn't think they should be in the secret ______ cabinets, or if they were, there ought to be a law to allow the children access. And so she set about to make it so.

Solution


  1. questioned
  2. filing
  3. secret
  4. boxes
  5. amazed
  6. looked
  7. mistakes
  8. rooms
  9. dysfunctional
  10. punished

Original Text


Once upon a time, the world was a big, dysfunctional family. It was run by the great and powerful parents, and the people were helpless and hopeless naughty children. If any of the more rowdier children questioned the authority of the parents, they were scolded. If they went exploring into the parents' rooms, or even into the secret filing cabinets, they were punished, and told that for their own good they must never go in there again.

Then one day, a man came to town with boxes and boxes of secret documents stolen from the parents' rooms. "Look what they've been hiding from you," he said. The children looked and were amazed. There were maps and minutes from meetings where the parents were slagging each other off. They behaved just like the children. And they made mistakes, too, just like the children. The only difference was, their mistakes were in the secret filing cabinets. Well, there was a girl in the town, and she didn't think they should be in the secret filing cabinets, or if they were, there ought to be a law to allow the children access. And so she set about to make it so.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
secret filing 3
secret documents 2
fully connected 2
site called 2
modern media 2
official secrets 2
spy center 2



Important Words


  1. access
  2. amazed
  3. authority
  4. behaved
  5. big
  6. boxes
  7. cabinets
  8. children
  9. day
  10. difference
  11. documents
  12. dysfunctional
  13. exploring
  14. family
  15. filing
  16. girl
  17. good
  18. great
  19. helpless
  20. hiding
  21. hopeless
  22. law
  23. looked
  24. man
  25. maps
  26. meetings
  27. minutes
  28. mistakes
  29. naughty
  30. parents
  31. people
  32. powerful
  33. punished
  34. questioned
  35. rooms
  36. rowdier
  37. run
  38. scolded
  39. secret
  40. set
  41. slagging
  42. stolen
  43. time
  44. told
  45. town
  46. world