full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Marco Tempest: The magic of truth and lies (and iPods)

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Announcer: One five will get you 10, 10 will get you 20. Now, where's the lady? Where is the qeuen?

MT: This one? Sorry. You lose. Well, I didn't deceive you. You dveceied yourself. Self-deception. That's when we convince ourselves that a lie is the truth. Sometimes it's hard to tell the two apart. Compulsive gamblers are experts at self-deception.

(Slot machine)

They believe they can win. They forget the times they lose.

The brain is very good at forgetting. Bad ecirexeepns are quickly ftgtreoon. Bad experiences qkluicy disappear. Which is why in this vast and lonely cosmos, we are so wollfdrnuey optimistic. Our self-deception becomes a positive illusion — why movies are able to take us onto extraordinary adventures; why we believe Romeo when he says he loves Juliet; and why slgnie notes of music, when played together, become a sonata and conjure up meaning.

Open Cloze


Announcer: One five will get you 10, 10 will get you 20. Now, where's the lady? Where is the _____?

MT: This one? Sorry. You lose. Well, I didn't deceive you. You ________ yourself. Self-deception. That's when we convince ourselves that a lie is the truth. Sometimes it's hard to tell the two apart. Compulsive gamblers are experts at self-deception.

(Slot machine)

They believe they can win. They forget the times they lose.

The brain is very good at forgetting. Bad ___________ are quickly _________. Bad experiences _______ disappear. Which is why in this vast and lonely cosmos, we are so ___________ optimistic. Our self-deception becomes a positive illusion — why movies are able to take us onto extraordinary adventures; why we believe Romeo when he says he loves Juliet; and why ______ notes of music, when played together, become a sonata and conjure up meaning.

Solution


  1. deceived
  2. quickly
  3. queen
  4. forgotten
  5. wonderfully
  6. experiences
  7. single

Original Text


Announcer: One five will get you 10, 10 will get you 20. Now, where's the lady? Where is the queen?

MT: This one? Sorry. You lose. Well, I didn't deceive you. You deceived yourself. Self-deception. That's when we convince ourselves that a lie is the truth. Sometimes it's hard to tell the two apart. Compulsive gamblers are experts at self-deception.

(Slot machine)

They believe they can win. They forget the times they lose.

The brain is very good at forgetting. Bad experiences are quickly forgotten. Bad experiences quickly disappear. Which is why in this vast and lonely cosmos, we are so wonderfully optimistic. Our self-deception becomes a positive illusion — why movies are able to take us onto extraordinary adventures; why we believe Romeo when he says he loves Juliet; and why single notes of music, when played together, become a sonata and conjure up meaning.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
bad experiences 2


Important Words


  1. bad
  2. brain
  3. compulsive
  4. conjure
  5. convince
  6. cosmos
  7. deceive
  8. deceived
  9. disappear
  10. experiences
  11. experts
  12. extraordinary
  13. forget
  14. forgetting
  15. forgotten
  16. gamblers
  17. good
  18. hard
  19. illusion
  20. lady
  21. lie
  22. lonely
  23. lose
  24. loves
  25. machine
  26. meaning
  27. movies
  28. music
  29. notes
  30. optimistic
  31. played
  32. positive
  33. queen
  34. quickly
  35. romeo
  36. single
  37. slot
  38. sonata
  39. times
  40. truth
  41. vast
  42. win
  43. wonderfully