full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Madeleine Albright: On being a woman and a diplomat

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Pat Mitchell: What is the story of this pin?

Madeleine Albright: This is "Breaking the gasls Ceiling."

PM: Oh. That was well chosen, I would say, for TEDWomen.

MA: Most of the time I spend when I get up in the morning is trying to figure out what is going to happen. And none of this pin stuff would have happened if it hadn't been for Saddam Hussein. I'll tell you what happened. I went to the unietd Nations as an ambassador, and it was after the Gulf War, and I was an iescnrttud ambassador. And the cease-fire had been translated into a series of sanctions resolutions, and my instructions were to say perfectly terrible things about Saddam Hussein constantly, which he deserved — he had ivndaed another ctnruoy. And so all of a sudden, a poem appeared in the papers in bahadgd comparing me to many things, but among them an "unparalleled serpent." And so I happened to have a snake pin. So I wore it when we talked about Iraq. (luhgtaer) And when I went out to meet the pesrs, they zeroed in, said, "Why are you wearing that sknae pin?" I said, "Because sddaam hsisuen compared me to an unparalleled serpent." And then I thought, well this is fun. So I went out and I bought a lot of pins that would, in fact, reflect what I thought we were going to do on any given day. So that's how it all started.

Open Cloze


Pat Mitchell: What is the story of this pin?

Madeleine Albright: This is "Breaking the _____ Ceiling."

PM: Oh. That was well chosen, I would say, for TEDWomen.

MA: Most of the time I spend when I get up in the morning is trying to figure out what is going to happen. And none of this pin stuff would have happened if it hadn't been for Saddam Hussein. I'll tell you what happened. I went to the ______ Nations as an ambassador, and it was after the Gulf War, and I was an __________ ambassador. And the cease-fire had been translated into a series of sanctions resolutions, and my instructions were to say perfectly terrible things about Saddam Hussein constantly, which he deserved — he had _______ another _______. And so all of a sudden, a poem appeared in the papers in _______ comparing me to many things, but among them an "unparalleled serpent." And so I happened to have a snake pin. So I wore it when we talked about Iraq. (________) And when I went out to meet the _____, they zeroed in, said, "Why are you wearing that _____ pin?" I said, "Because ______ _______ compared me to an unparalleled serpent." And then I thought, well this is fun. So I went out and I bought a lot of pins that would, in fact, reflect what I thought we were going to do on any given day. So that's how it all started.

Solution


  1. saddam
  2. snake
  3. instructed
  4. united
  5. laughter
  6. invaded
  7. glass
  8. press
  9. country
  10. hussein
  11. baghdad

Original Text


Pat Mitchell: What is the story of this pin?

Madeleine Albright: This is "Breaking the Glass Ceiling."

PM: Oh. That was well chosen, I would say, for TEDWomen.

MA: Most of the time I spend when I get up in the morning is trying to figure out what is going to happen. And none of this pin stuff would have happened if it hadn't been for Saddam Hussein. I'll tell you what happened. I went to the United Nations as an ambassador, and it was after the Gulf War, and I was an instructed ambassador. And the cease-fire had been translated into a series of sanctions resolutions, and my instructions were to say perfectly terrible things about Saddam Hussein constantly, which he deserved — he had invaded another country. And so all of a sudden, a poem appeared in the papers in Baghdad comparing me to many things, but among them an "unparalleled serpent." And so I happened to have a snake pin. So I wore it when we talked about Iraq. (Laughter) And when I went out to meet the press, they zeroed in, said, "Why are you wearing that snake pin?" I said, "Because Saddam Hussein compared me to an unparalleled serpent." And then I thought, well this is fun. So I went out and I bought a lot of pins that would, in fact, reflect what I thought we were going to do on any given day. So that's how it all started.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
saddam hussein 3
national security 2
bottom line 2
war crimes 2
crimes tribunal 2
negotiating tables 2
foreign policy 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
war crimes tribunal 2

Important Words


  1. ambassador
  2. appeared
  3. baghdad
  4. bought
  5. ceiling
  6. chosen
  7. compared
  8. comparing
  9. constantly
  10. country
  11. day
  12. deserved
  13. fact
  14. figure
  15. fun
  16. glass
  17. gulf
  18. happen
  19. happened
  20. hussein
  21. instructed
  22. instructions
  23. invaded
  24. iraq
  25. laughter
  26. lot
  27. madeleine
  28. meet
  29. morning
  30. nations
  31. papers
  32. pat
  33. perfectly
  34. pin
  35. pins
  36. poem
  37. press
  38. reflect
  39. resolutions
  40. saddam
  41. sanctions
  42. series
  43. serpent
  44. snake
  45. spend
  46. started
  47. story
  48. stuff
  49. sudden
  50. talked
  51. tedwomen
  52. terrible
  53. thought
  54. time
  55. translated
  56. united
  57. unparalleled
  58. war
  59. wearing
  60. wore
  61. zeroed