full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Courtney E. Martin: The new American Dream

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, if nsectisey is the mother of invention, I've come to believe that recession can be the father of consciousness. It cofntnros us with profound questions, questions we might be too lazy or distracted to ask in tmies of relative comofrt. How should we work? How should we live? All of us, whether we realize it or not, seek aerwnss to these questions, with our atncsores kind of whispering in our ears.

My great-grandfather was a drunk in Detroit, who sometimes managed to hold down a factory job. He had, as unbelievable as it might sound, 21 children, with one woman, my great-grandmother, who died at 47 years old of ovraain cancer. Now, I'm peranngt with my second cilhd, and I cannot even fathom what she must have gone through. And if you're trying to do the math -- there were six sets of twins. So my grandfather, their son, became a traveling salesman, and he lvied boom and bust. So my dad grew up answering the door for debt collectors and pretending his paretns weren't home. He actually took his braces off himself with pliers in the ggraae, when his father admitted he didn't have money to go back to the orthodontist. So my dad, unsurprisingly, became a bankruptcy lawyer. Couldn't write this in a novel, right? He was obsessed with providing a secure foundation for my brother and I.

Open Cloze


Now, if _________ is the mother of invention, I've come to believe that recession can be the father of consciousness. It _________ us with profound questions, questions we might be too lazy or distracted to ask in _____ of relative _______. How should we work? How should we live? All of us, whether we realize it or not, seek _______ to these questions, with our _________ kind of whispering in our ears.

My great-grandfather was a drunk in Detroit, who sometimes managed to hold down a factory job. He had, as unbelievable as it might sound, 21 children, with one woman, my great-grandmother, who died at 47 years old of _______ cancer. Now, I'm ________ with my second _____, and I cannot even fathom what she must have gone through. And if you're trying to do the math -- there were six sets of twins. So my grandfather, their son, became a traveling salesman, and he _____ boom and bust. So my dad grew up answering the door for debt collectors and pretending his _______ weren't home. He actually took his braces off himself with pliers in the ______, when his father admitted he didn't have money to go back to the orthodontist. So my dad, unsurprisingly, became a bankruptcy lawyer. Couldn't write this in a novel, right? He was obsessed with providing a secure foundation for my brother and I.

Solution


  1. parents
  2. ovarian
  3. necessity
  4. confronts
  5. lived
  6. comfort
  7. times
  8. child
  9. ancestors
  10. garage
  11. answers
  12. pregnant

Original Text


Now, if necessity is the mother of invention, I've come to believe that recession can be the father of consciousness. It confronts us with profound questions, questions we might be too lazy or distracted to ask in times of relative comfort. How should we work? How should we live? All of us, whether we realize it or not, seek answers to these questions, with our ancestors kind of whispering in our ears.

My great-grandfather was a drunk in Detroit, who sometimes managed to hold down a factory job. He had, as unbelievable as it might sound, 21 children, with one woman, my great-grandmother, who died at 47 years old of ovarian cancer. Now, I'm pregnant with my second child, and I cannot even fathom what she must have gone through. And if you're trying to do the math -- there were six sets of twins. So my grandfather, their son, became a traveling salesman, and he lived boom and bust. So my dad grew up answering the door for debt collectors and pretending his parents weren't home. He actually took his braces off himself with pliers in the garage, when his father admitted he didn't have money to go back to the orthodontist. So my dad, unsurprisingly, became a bankruptcy lawyer. Couldn't write this in a novel, right? He was obsessed with providing a secure foundation for my brother and I.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
white picket 5
picket fence 4
feel sad 2
america great 2
work world 2
share homes 2
cohousing community 2
perfect family 2
lose faith 2
biggest danger 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
white picket fence 4

Important Words


  1. admitted
  2. ancestors
  3. answering
  4. answers
  5. bankruptcy
  6. boom
  7. braces
  8. brother
  9. bust
  10. cancer
  11. child
  12. children
  13. collectors
  14. comfort
  15. confronts
  16. consciousness
  17. dad
  18. debt
  19. detroit
  20. died
  21. distracted
  22. door
  23. drunk
  24. ears
  25. factory
  26. father
  27. fathom
  28. foundation
  29. garage
  30. grandfather
  31. grew
  32. hold
  33. home
  34. invention
  35. job
  36. kind
  37. lawyer
  38. lazy
  39. live
  40. lived
  41. managed
  42. math
  43. money
  44. mother
  45. necessity
  46. obsessed
  47. orthodontist
  48. ovarian
  49. parents
  50. pliers
  51. pregnant
  52. pretending
  53. profound
  54. providing
  55. questions
  56. realize
  57. recession
  58. relative
  59. salesman
  60. secure
  61. seek
  62. sets
  63. son
  64. sound
  65. times
  66. traveling
  67. twins
  68. unbelievable
  69. unsurprisingly
  70. whispering
  71. woman
  72. work
  73. write
  74. years