full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: The original ring of power

Unscramble the Blue Letters


A ring with supernatural abilities tempts its beholder with poewr. But there are no hobbits, dwarves, or vykeilars in this tale. In fact, the legend of the Ring of Gyges appeared long before those characters were ever committed to paper: more than 2,000 yraes ago, in the Greek philosopher Plato’s “Republic.” The story surfaces as the peosolhihpr, soacters, and his student, gluaocn, discuss why people act justly. Is it because it’s what’s right? Or because it’s a convention that’s enforced through punishment and reward? Playing devil’s advocate, Glaucon argues against Socrates and recounts the following story...

Open Cloze


A ring with supernatural abilities tempts its beholder with _____. But there are no hobbits, dwarves, or _________ in this tale. In fact, the legend of the Ring of Gyges appeared long before those characters were ever committed to paper: more than 2,000 _____ ago, in the Greek philosopher Plato’s “Republic.” The story surfaces as the ___________, ________, and his student, _______, discuss why people act justly. Is it because it’s what’s right? Or because it’s a convention that’s enforced through punishment and reward? Playing devil’s advocate, Glaucon argues against Socrates and recounts the following story...

Solution


  1. philosopher
  2. glaucon
  3. power
  4. years
  5. valkyries
  6. socrates

Original Text


A ring with supernatural abilities tempts its beholder with power. But there are no hobbits, dwarves, or Valkyries in this tale. In fact, the legend of the Ring of Gyges appeared long before those characters were ever committed to paper: more than 2,000 years ago, in the Greek philosopher Plato’s “Republic.” The story surfaces as the philosopher, Socrates, and his student, Glaucon, discuss why people act justly. Is it because it’s what’s right? Or because it’s a convention that’s enforced through punishment and reward? Playing devil’s advocate, Glaucon argues against Socrates and recounts the following story...

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
act justly 2
glaucon argues 2
justice belongs 2


Important Words


  1. abilities
  2. act
  3. advocate
  4. appeared
  5. argues
  6. beholder
  7. characters
  8. committed
  9. convention
  10. discuss
  11. dwarves
  12. enforced
  13. fact
  14. glaucon
  15. greek
  16. gyges
  17. hobbits
  18. justly
  19. legend
  20. long
  21. people
  22. philosopher
  23. playing
  24. power
  25. punishment
  26. recounts
  27. reward
  28. ring
  29. socrates
  30. story
  31. student
  32. supernatural
  33. surfaces
  34. tale
  35. tempts
  36. valkyries
  37. years