full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Growth is not dead.

(aspluape)

Let's srtat the story 120 years ago, when American factories began to electrify their operations, igniting the Second Industrial Revolution. The amazing thing is that puiidvtrctoy did not iensrace in those factories for 30 years. Thirty years. That's long enough for a generation of managers to retire. You see, the first wave of managers slmpiy replaced their setam engines with electric motors, but they didn't redesign the factories to take advantage of electricity's flexibility. It fell to the next generation to invent new work processes, and then productivity soared, often doubling or even tripling in those fircaetos.

Open Cloze


Growth is not dead.

(________)

Let's _____ the story 120 years ago, when American factories began to electrify their operations, igniting the Second Industrial Revolution. The amazing thing is that ____________ did not ________ in those factories for 30 years. Thirty years. That's long enough for a generation of managers to retire. You see, the first wave of managers ______ replaced their _____ engines with electric motors, but they didn't redesign the factories to take advantage of electricity's flexibility. It fell to the next generation to invent new work processes, and then productivity soared, often doubling or even tripling in those _________.

Solution


  1. productivity
  2. steam
  3. simply
  4. increase
  5. factories
  6. applause
  7. start

Original Text


Growth is not dead.

(Applause)

Let's start the story 120 years ago, when American factories began to electrify their operations, igniting the Second Industrial Revolution. The amazing thing is that productivity did not increase in those factories for 30 years. Thirty years. That's long enough for a generation of managers to retire. You see, the first wave of managers simply replaced their steam engines with electric motors, but they didn't redesign the factories to take advantage of electricity's flexibility. It fell to the next generation to invent new work processes, and then productivity soared, often doubling or even tripling in those factories.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
machine age 7
general purpose 3
industrial revolution 2
important invention 2
world chess 2


Important Words


  1. advantage
  2. amazing
  3. american
  4. applause
  5. began
  6. dead
  7. doubling
  8. electric
  9. electrify
  10. engines
  11. factories
  12. fell
  13. flexibility
  14. generation
  15. growth
  16. igniting
  17. increase
  18. industrial
  19. invent
  20. long
  21. managers
  22. motors
  23. operations
  24. processes
  25. productivity
  26. redesign
  27. replaced
  28. retire
  29. revolution
  30. simply
  31. soared
  32. start
  33. steam
  34. story
  35. tripling
  36. wave
  37. work
  38. years