full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir

Unscramble the Blue Letters


At the age of 21, Simone de bveauior became the youngest person to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university. She pseasd with flying colors. But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy, she wanted to break them. She’d been seoochld on Plato’s Theory of fomrs, which dismissed the physical world as a flawed reflection of higher thtrus and unchanging ideals. But for de Beauvoir, earthly life was enthralling, sensual, and anything but sitatc. Her desire to elopxre the physical world to its fullest would shape her life, and eventually, inspire a radical new philosophy.

Open Cloze


At the age of 21, Simone de ________ became the youngest person to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university. She ______ with flying colors. But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy, she wanted to break them. She’d been ________ on Plato’s Theory of _____, which dismissed the physical world as a flawed reflection of higher ______ and unchanging ideals. But for de Beauvoir, earthly life was enthralling, sensual, and anything but ______. Her desire to _______ the physical world to its fullest would shape her life, and eventually, inspire a radical new philosophy.

Solution


  1. truths
  2. static
  3. beauvoir
  4. explore
  5. forms
  6. schooled
  7. passed

Original Text


At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir became the youngest person to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university. She passed with flying colors. But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy, she wanted to break them. She’d been schooled on Plato’s Theory of Forms, which dismissed the physical world as a flawed reflection of higher truths and unchanging ideals. But for de Beauvoir, earthly life was enthralling, sensual, and anything but static. Her desire to explore the physical world to its fullest would shape her life, and eventually, inspire a radical new philosophy.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
de beauvoir 11
physical world 2
personal experience 2


Important Words


  1. age
  2. beauvoir
  3. break
  4. colors
  5. de
  6. desire
  7. dismissed
  8. earthly
  9. enthralling
  10. esteemed
  11. eventually
  12. exams
  13. explore
  14. flawed
  15. flying
  16. forms
  17. fullest
  18. higher
  19. ideals
  20. inspire
  21. life
  22. mastered
  23. passed
  24. person
  25. philosophy
  26. physical
  27. radical
  28. reflection
  29. rules
  30. schooled
  31. sensual
  32. shape
  33. simone
  34. static
  35. theory
  36. truths
  37. unchanging
  38. university
  39. wanted
  40. world
  41. youngest