full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tan Le: My immigration story

Unscramble the Blue Letters


How can I speak in 10 minutes about the bonds of women over three generations, about how the athsnnioisg strength of those bnods took hold in the life of a four-year-old girl huddled with her young stesir, her mother and her grandmother for five days and nights in a small boat in the China Sea more than 30 yaers ago. Bonds that took hold in the life of that small girl and never let go — that samll girl now living in San Francisco and speaking to you today. This is not a finished story. It is a jigsaw puzzle still being put together. Let me tell you about some of the pieces.

Imagine the first piece: a man bnrunig his life's work. He is a poet, a playwright, a man whose whole life had been balanced on the single hope of his country's unity and feroedm. iinmgae him as the communists eentr sigaon — confronting the fact that his life had been a complete waste. Words, for so long his friends, now mocked him. He rraeetetd into silence. He died beokrn by history. He is my grandfather. I never knew him in real life. But our lives are much more than our memories. My grandmother never let me forget his life. My duty was not to allow it to have been in vain, and my lesson was to learn that, yes, htsiory tried to crush us, but we endured.

Open Cloze


How can I speak in 10 minutes about the bonds of women over three generations, about how the ___________ strength of those _____ took hold in the life of a four-year-old girl huddled with her young ______, her mother and her grandmother for five days and nights in a small boat in the China Sea more than 30 _____ ago. Bonds that took hold in the life of that small girl and never let go — that _____ girl now living in San Francisco and speaking to you today. This is not a finished story. It is a jigsaw puzzle still being put together. Let me tell you about some of the pieces.

Imagine the first piece: a man _______ his life's work. He is a poet, a playwright, a man whose whole life had been balanced on the single hope of his country's unity and _______. _______ him as the communists _____ ______ — confronting the fact that his life had been a complete waste. Words, for so long his friends, now mocked him. He _________ into silence. He died ______ by history. He is my grandfather. I never knew him in real life. But our lives are much more than our memories. My grandmother never let me forget his life. My duty was not to allow it to have been in vain, and my lesson was to learn that, yes, _______ tried to crush us, but we endured.

Solution


  1. retreated
  2. broken
  3. astonishing
  4. sister
  5. burning
  6. years
  7. imagine
  8. small
  9. bonds
  10. saigon
  11. history
  12. freedom
  13. enter

Original Text


How can I speak in 10 minutes about the bonds of women over three generations, about how the astonishing strength of those bonds took hold in the life of a four-year-old girl huddled with her young sister, her mother and her grandmother for five days and nights in a small boat in the China Sea more than 30 years ago. Bonds that took hold in the life of that small girl and never let go — that small girl now living in San Francisco and speaking to you today. This is not a finished story. It is a jigsaw puzzle still being put together. Let me tell you about some of the pieces.

Imagine the first piece: a man burning his life's work. He is a poet, a playwright, a man whose whole life had been balanced on the single hope of his country's unity and freedom. Imagine him as the communists enter Saigon — confronting the fact that his life had been a complete waste. Words, for so long his friends, now mocked him. He retreated into silence. He died broken by history. He is my grandfather. I never knew him in real life. But our lives are much more than our memories. My grandmother never let me forget his life. My duty was not to allow it to have been in vain, and my lesson was to learn that, yes, history tried to crush us, but we endured.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
small girl 2
father died 2
steady beat 2


Important Words


  1. astonishing
  2. balanced
  3. boat
  4. bonds
  5. broken
  6. burning
  7. china
  8. communists
  9. complete
  10. confronting
  11. crush
  12. days
  13. died
  14. duty
  15. endured
  16. enter
  17. fact
  18. finished
  19. forget
  20. francisco
  21. freedom
  22. friends
  23. generations
  24. girl
  25. grandfather
  26. grandmother
  27. history
  28. hold
  29. hope
  30. huddled
  31. imagine
  32. jigsaw
  33. knew
  34. learn
  35. lesson
  36. life
  37. lives
  38. living
  39. long
  40. man
  41. memories
  42. minutes
  43. mocked
  44. mother
  45. nights
  46. pieces
  47. playwright
  48. poet
  49. put
  50. puzzle
  51. real
  52. retreated
  53. saigon
  54. san
  55. sea
  56. silence
  57. single
  58. sister
  59. small
  60. speak
  61. speaking
  62. story
  63. strength
  64. today
  65. unity
  66. vain
  67. waste
  68. women
  69. words
  70. work
  71. years
  72. young