TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Sam Berns: My philosophy for a happy life

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Hello everyone. I'm Sam, and I just turned 17. A few yreas ago, before my freshman year in High School, I wanted to play snare drum in the Foxboro High School Marching Band, and it was a dream that I just had to accomplish. But each snare drum and harness weighed about 40 pounds each, and I have a disease claeld Progeria. So just to give you an idea, I weigh only about 50 pounds. So, logistically, I really couldn't carry a regular sized snare drum, and because of this the band director assigned me to play pit possuicren during the halftime show. Now pit percussion was fun. It ivlevond some really cool auxiliary percussion instruments, like the bongos, tiapmni, and timbales, and cowbell. So it was fun, but it involved no marching, and I was just so daaettesvd. However, nothing was going to stop me from playing sarne drum with the marching band in the halftime show. So my fimaly and I worked with an eiegnner to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry. So after continuous work, we made a snare drum apparatus that weighs only about 6 ponuds. (Applause) I just want to give you some more itmfniaoron about Progeria. It affects only about 350 kids today, worldwide. So it's prtety rare, and the ecffets of Progeria include: tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth, and heart dsiasee. Last year my Mom and her team of scientists published the first successful peirorga Treatment Study, and because of this I was interviewed on NPR, and John Hamilton asked me the question: "What is the most important thing that plpeoe should know about you?" And my aewnsr was simply that I have a very happy life. (Applause) So even though there are many obstacles in my life, with a lot of them being created by Progeria, I don't want people to feel bad for me. I don't think about these obstacles all the time, and I'm able to overcome most of them anyway. So I’m here today, to share with you my philosophy for a happy life. So, for me, there are 3 aspects to this philosophy. So this is a quote from the famous Ferris Bueller. The first aspect to my philosophy is that I’m okay with what I ultimately can’t do because there is so much I can do. Now people sometimes ask me questions like, "Isn’t it hard lniivg with Progeria?" or "What daily challenges of Progeria do you face?" And I’d like to say that, even though I have Progeria, most of my time is spent thinking about things that have nothing to do with Progeria at all. Now this doesn’t mean that I ignore the negative aspects of these obstacles. When I can’t do something like run a long distance, or go on an itnnese rellor coaster, I know what I’m missing out on. But instead, I choose to focus on the atitiecvis that I can do through things that I’m passionate about, like stcniuog, or music, or comic bkoos, or any of my ftiravoe Boston soptrs teams. Yeah, so — (lutgaehr) However, sometimes I need to find a different way to do something by making aujnestmtds, and I want to put those things in the "can do" category. Kind of like you saw with the drum earlier. So here’s a clip with me playing Spider-Man with the Foxboro High School Marching Band at halftime a couple of years ago. (Video) ♫ Spider-Man theme song ♫ (Applause) Thank you. All right, all right, so — That was pretty cool, and so I was able to accomplish my dearm of playing snare drum with the marching band, as I believe I can do for all of my dreams. So hopefully, you can accomplish your dreams as well, with this outlook. The next aspect to my philosophy is that I surround myself with people I want to be with, people of high quality. I’m extremely lucky to have an amazing family, who have always supported me throughout my entrie life. And I’m also really fortunate to have a really close group of fnidres at school. Now we’re kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other’s company, and we help each other out when we need to. We see each other for who we are on the inside. So this is us goofing off a little bit. So we’re juniors in High sohocl now, and we can now mentor younger band members, as a silgne collective unit. What I love about being in a gruop like the band, is that the music that we make together, is true, is genuine, and it supersedes Progeria. So I don’t have to worry about that when I’m feeling so good about miankg music. But even having made a documentary, going on TV a couple of times, I feel like I’m at my higseht point when I’m with the people that surround me every day. They provide the real positive influences in my life, as I hope I can provide a positive influence in theirs as well. (aplpsuae) Thank you. So the bototm line here, is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro’s and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, povtisie impact. The third aspect to the pslhioohpy is, Keep moving forward. Here’s a quote by a man you may know, named Walt Disney, and it’s one of my favorite quotes. I always try to have something to look forward to. Something to strive for to make my life rechir. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be anything from looking forward to the next cimoc book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game. However, all of these things keep me focused, and know that there’s a bright fruute ahead, and may get me through some difficult temis that I may be having. Now this mentality includes staying in a forward thinking sttae of mind. I try hard not to waste energy feeling bdlay for myself, because when I do, I get stuck in a paradox, where there’s no room for any happiness or any other emotion. Now, it’s not that I inroge when I’m feeling badly, I kind of accept it, I let it in, so that I can acknowledge it, and do what I need to do to move past it. When I was younger, I wnaetd to be an engineer. I wanted to be an ietnovnr, who would catapult the wlrod into a better future. Maybe this came from my love of Legos, and the freedom of expression that I felt when I was building with them. And this was also derived from my family and my mnreots, who always make me feel whole, and good about myself. Now today my ambitions have changed a little bit, I’d like to go into the filed of blogoiy, maybe cell biology, or genetics, or biochemistry, or really anything. This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, friancs Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away. I feel that no mtaetr what I choose to become, I believe that I can change the world. And as I’m striving to change the world, I will be hpapy. About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called “Life According to Sam”. That was a pretty great experience, but it was also four years ago. And like anyone, my vewis on many things have cgaenhd, and hopefully matured, like my potential career choice. However, some things have stayed the same throughout that time. Like my mentality, and philosophy towards life. So I would like to show you a clip of my yuogenr self from the film, that I feel embodies that philosophy. (Video) I know more about it genetically. So it’s less of an enmibomdet now. It used to be like this thing that ptevrens me from doing all this stuff, that causes other kids to die, that causes everybody to be stressed, and now it’s a pieotrn that is aromabnl, that weakens the srtcutrue of cells. So, and it taeks a burden off of me because now I don’t have to think about Progeria as an entity. Okay, pretty good, huh? (Applause) Thank you. So, as you can see I’ve been thinking this way for many years. But I’d never really had to apply all of these aspects of my philosophy to the test at one time, until last January. I was pretty sick, I had a chest cold, and I was in the haitsopl for a few days, and I was secluded from all of the astceps of my life that I felt made me, me, that kind of gave me my identity. But koninwg that I was going to get better, and looking forward to a time that I would feel good again, helped me to keep moving forward. And sometimes I had to be brave, and it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes I faltered, I had bad days, but I realized that being brvae isn’t supposed to be easy. And for me, I feel it’s the key way to keep moving forward. So, all in all, I don’t waste energy feeling bad for myself. I sruround myself with people that I want to be with, and I keep moving forward. So with this philosophy, I hope that all of you, regardless of your obstacles, can have a very happy life as well. Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice –- (Laughter) Never miss a party if you can help it. My school’s homecoming dance is tomorrow nihgt, and I will be there. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Open Cloze

Hello everyone. I'm Sam, and I just turned 17. A few _____ ago, before my freshman year in High School, I wanted to play snare drum in the Foxboro High School Marching Band, and it was a dream that I just had to accomplish. But each snare drum and harness weighed about 40 pounds each, and I have a disease ______ Progeria. So just to give you an idea, I weigh only about 50 pounds. So, logistically, I really couldn't carry a regular sized snare drum, and because of this the band director assigned me to play pit __________ during the halftime show. Now pit percussion was fun. It ________ some really cool auxiliary percussion instruments, like the bongos, _______, and timbales, and cowbell. So it was fun, but it involved no marching, and I was just so __________. However, nothing was going to stop me from playing _____ drum with the marching band in the halftime show. So my ______ and I worked with an ________ to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry. So after continuous work, we made a snare drum apparatus that weighs only about 6 ______. (Applause) I just want to give you some more ___________ about Progeria. It affects only about 350 kids today, worldwide. So it's ______ rare, and the _______ of Progeria include: tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth, and heart _______. Last year my Mom and her team of scientists published the first successful ________ Treatment Study, and because of this I was interviewed on NPR, and John Hamilton asked me the question: "What is the most important thing that ______ should know about you?" And my ______ was simply that I have a very happy life. (Applause) So even though there are many obstacles in my life, with a lot of them being created by Progeria, I don't want people to feel bad for me. I don't think about these obstacles all the time, and I'm able to overcome most of them anyway. So I’m here today, to share with you my philosophy for a happy life. So, for me, there are 3 aspects to this philosophy. So this is a quote from the famous Ferris Bueller. The first aspect to my philosophy is that I’m okay with what I ultimately can’t do because there is so much I can do. Now people sometimes ask me questions like, "Isn’t it hard ______ with Progeria?" or "What daily challenges of Progeria do you face?" And I’d like to say that, even though I have Progeria, most of my time is spent thinking about things that have nothing to do with Progeria at all. Now this doesn’t mean that I ignore the negative aspects of these obstacles. When I can’t do something like run a long distance, or go on an _______ ______ coaster, I know what I’m missing out on. But instead, I choose to focus on the __________ that I can do through things that I’m passionate about, like ________, or music, or comic _____, or any of my ________ Boston ______ teams. Yeah, so — (________) However, sometimes I need to find a different way to do something by making ___________, and I want to put those things in the "can do" category. Kind of like you saw with the drum earlier. So here’s a clip with me playing Spider-Man with the Foxboro High School Marching Band at halftime a couple of years ago. (Video) ♫ Spider-Man theme song ♫ (Applause) Thank you. All right, all right, so — That was pretty cool, and so I was able to accomplish my _____ of playing snare drum with the marching band, as I believe I can do for all of my dreams. So hopefully, you can accomplish your dreams as well, with this outlook. The next aspect to my philosophy is that I surround myself with people I want to be with, people of high quality. I’m extremely lucky to have an amazing family, who have always supported me throughout my ______ life. And I’m also really fortunate to have a really close group of _______ at school. Now we’re kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other’s company, and we help each other out when we need to. We see each other for who we are on the inside. So this is us goofing off a little bit. So we’re juniors in High ______ now, and we can now mentor younger band members, as a ______ collective unit. What I love about being in a _____ like the band, is that the music that we make together, is true, is genuine, and it supersedes Progeria. So I don’t have to worry about that when I’m feeling so good about ______ music. But even having made a documentary, going on TV a couple of times, I feel like I’m at my _______ point when I’m with the people that surround me every day. They provide the real positive influences in my life, as I hope I can provide a positive influence in theirs as well. (________) Thank you. So the ______ line here, is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro’s and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, ________ impact. The third aspect to the __________ is, Keep moving forward. Here’s a quote by a man you may know, named Walt Disney, and it’s one of my favorite quotes. I always try to have something to look forward to. Something to strive for to make my life ______. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be anything from looking forward to the next _____ book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game. However, all of these things keep me focused, and know that there’s a bright ______ ahead, and may get me through some difficult _____ that I may be having. Now this mentality includes staying in a forward thinking _____ of mind. I try hard not to waste energy feeling _____ for myself, because when I do, I get stuck in a paradox, where there’s no room for any happiness or any other emotion. Now, it’s not that I ______ when I’m feeling badly, I kind of accept it, I let it in, so that I can acknowledge it, and do what I need to do to move past it. When I was younger, I ______ to be an engineer. I wanted to be an ________, who would catapult the _____ into a better future. Maybe this came from my love of Legos, and the freedom of expression that I felt when I was building with them. And this was also derived from my family and my _______, who always make me feel whole, and good about myself. Now today my ambitions have changed a little bit, I’d like to go into the _____ of _______, maybe cell biology, or genetics, or biochemistry, or really anything. This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, _______ Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away. I feel that no ______ what I choose to become, I believe that I can change the world. And as I’m striving to change the world, I will be _____. About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called “Life According to Sam”. That was a pretty great experience, but it was also four years ago. And like anyone, my _____ on many things have _______, and hopefully matured, like my potential career choice. However, some things have stayed the same throughout that time. Like my mentality, and philosophy towards life. So I would like to show you a clip of my _______ self from the film, that I feel embodies that philosophy. (Video) I know more about it genetically. So it’s less of an __________ now. It used to be like this thing that ________ me from doing all this stuff, that causes other kids to die, that causes everybody to be stressed, and now it’s a _______ that is ________, that weakens the _________ of cells. So, and it _____ a burden off of me because now I don’t have to think about Progeria as an entity. Okay, pretty good, huh? (Applause) Thank you. So, as you can see I’ve been thinking this way for many years. But I’d never really had to apply all of these aspects of my philosophy to the test at one time, until last January. I was pretty sick, I had a chest cold, and I was in the ________ for a few days, and I was secluded from all of the _______ of my life that I felt made me, me, that kind of gave me my identity. But _______ that I was going to get better, and looking forward to a time that I would feel good again, helped me to keep moving forward. And sometimes I had to be brave, and it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes I faltered, I had bad days, but I realized that being _____ isn’t supposed to be easy. And for me, I feel it’s the key way to keep moving forward. So, all in all, I don’t waste energy feeling bad for myself. I ________ myself with people that I want to be with, and I keep moving forward. So with this philosophy, I hope that all of you, regardless of your obstacles, can have a very happy life as well. Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice –- (Laughter) Never miss a party if you can help it. My school’s homecoming dance is tomorrow _____, and I will be there. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Solution

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Original Text

Hello everyone. I'm Sam, and I just turned 17. A few years ago, before my freshman year in High School, I wanted to play snare drum in the Foxboro High School Marching Band, and it was a dream that I just had to accomplish. But each snare drum and harness weighed about 40 pounds each, and I have a disease called Progeria. So just to give you an idea, I weigh only about 50 pounds. So, logistically, I really couldn't carry a regular sized snare drum, and because of this the band director assigned me to play pit percussion during the halftime show. Now pit percussion was fun. It involved some really cool auxiliary percussion instruments, like the bongos, timpani, and timbales, and cowbell. So it was fun, but it involved no marching, and I was just so devastated. However, nothing was going to stop me from playing snare drum with the marching band in the halftime show. So my family and I worked with an engineer to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry. So after continuous work, we made a snare drum apparatus that weighs only about 6 pounds. (Applause) I just want to give you some more information about Progeria. It affects only about 350 kids today, worldwide. So it's pretty rare, and the effects of Progeria include: tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth, and heart disease. Last year my Mom and her team of scientists published the first successful Progeria Treatment Study, and because of this I was interviewed on NPR, and John Hamilton asked me the question: "What is the most important thing that people should know about you?" And my answer was simply that I have a very happy life. (Applause) So even though there are many obstacles in my life, with a lot of them being created by Progeria, I don't want people to feel bad for me. I don't think about these obstacles all the time, and I'm able to overcome most of them anyway. So I’m here today, to share with you my philosophy for a happy life. So, for me, there are 3 aspects to this philosophy. So this is a quote from the famous Ferris Bueller. The first aspect to my philosophy is that I’m okay with what I ultimately can’t do because there is so much I can do. Now people sometimes ask me questions like, "Isn’t it hard living with Progeria?" or "What daily challenges of Progeria do you face?" And I’d like to say that, even though I have Progeria, most of my time is spent thinking about things that have nothing to do with Progeria at all. Now this doesn’t mean that I ignore the negative aspects of these obstacles. When I can’t do something like run a long distance, or go on an intense roller coaster, I know what I’m missing out on. But instead, I choose to focus on the activities that I can do through things that I’m passionate about, like scouting, or music, or comic books, or any of my favorite Boston sports teams. Yeah, so — (Laughter) However, sometimes I need to find a different way to do something by making adjustments, and I want to put those things in the "can do" category. Kind of like you saw with the drum earlier. So here’s a clip with me playing Spider-Man with the Foxboro High School Marching Band at halftime a couple of years ago. (Video) ♫ Spider-Man theme song ♫ (Applause) Thank you. All right, all right, so — That was pretty cool, and so I was able to accomplish my dream of playing snare drum with the marching band, as I believe I can do for all of my dreams. So hopefully, you can accomplish your dreams as well, with this outlook. The next aspect to my philosophy is that I surround myself with people I want to be with, people of high quality. I’m extremely lucky to have an amazing family, who have always supported me throughout my entire life. And I’m also really fortunate to have a really close group of friends at school. Now we’re kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other’s company, and we help each other out when we need to. We see each other for who we are on the inside. So this is us goofing off a little bit. So we’re juniors in High School now, and we can now mentor younger band members, as a single collective unit. What I love about being in a group like the band, is that the music that we make together, is true, is genuine, and it supersedes Progeria. So I don’t have to worry about that when I’m feeling so good about making music. But even having made a documentary, going on TV a couple of times, I feel like I’m at my highest point when I’m with the people that surround me every day. They provide the real positive influences in my life, as I hope I can provide a positive influence in theirs as well. (Applause) Thank you. So the bottom line here, is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro’s and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, positive impact. The third aspect to the philosophy is, Keep moving forward. Here’s a quote by a man you may know, named Walt Disney, and it’s one of my favorite quotes. I always try to have something to look forward to. Something to strive for to make my life richer. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be anything from looking forward to the next comic book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game. However, all of these things keep me focused, and know that there’s a bright future ahead, and may get me through some difficult times that I may be having. Now this mentality includes staying in a forward thinking state of mind. I try hard not to waste energy feeling badly for myself, because when I do, I get stuck in a paradox, where there’s no room for any happiness or any other emotion. Now, it’s not that I ignore when I’m feeling badly, I kind of accept it, I let it in, so that I can acknowledge it, and do what I need to do to move past it. When I was younger, I wanted to be an engineer. I wanted to be an inventor, who would catapult the world into a better future. Maybe this came from my love of Legos, and the freedom of expression that I felt when I was building with them. And this was also derived from my family and my mentors, who always make me feel whole, and good about myself. Now today my ambitions have changed a little bit, I’d like to go into the field of Biology, maybe cell biology, or genetics, or biochemistry, or really anything. This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away. I feel that no matter what I choose to become, I believe that I can change the world. And as I’m striving to change the world, I will be happy. About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called “Life According to Sam”. That was a pretty great experience, but it was also four years ago. And like anyone, my views on many things have changed, and hopefully matured, like my potential career choice. However, some things have stayed the same throughout that time. Like my mentality, and philosophy towards life. So I would like to show you a clip of my younger self from the film, that I feel embodies that philosophy. (Video) I know more about it genetically. So it’s less of an embodiment now. It used to be like this thing that prevents me from doing all this stuff, that causes other kids to die, that causes everybody to be stressed, and now it’s a protein that is abnormal, that weakens the structure of cells. So, and it takes a burden off of me because now I don’t have to think about Progeria as an entity. Okay, pretty good, huh? (Applause) Thank you. So, as you can see I’ve been thinking this way for many years. But I’d never really had to apply all of these aspects of my philosophy to the test at one time, until last January. I was pretty sick, I had a chest cold, and I was in the hospital for a few days, and I was secluded from all of the aspects of my life that I felt made me, me, that kind of gave me my identity. But knowing that I was going to get better, and looking forward to a time that I would feel good again, helped me to keep moving forward. And sometimes I had to be brave, and it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes I faltered, I had bad days, but I realized that being brave isn’t supposed to be easy. And for me, I feel it’s the key way to keep moving forward. So, all in all, I don’t waste energy feeling bad for myself. I surround myself with people that I want to be with, and I keep moving forward. So with this philosophy, I hope that all of you, regardless of your obstacles, can have a very happy life as well. Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice –- (Laughter) Never miss a party if you can help it. My school’s homecoming dance is tomorrow night, and I will be there. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
snare drum	6
high school	4
happy life	3
foxboro high	2
school marching	2
pit percussion	2
halftime show	2
playing snare	2
marching band	2
waste energy	2
energy feeling	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
foxboro high school	2
high school marching	2
playing snare drum	2
waste energy feeling	2

Important Words

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