full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Cameron Sinclair: The refugees of boom-and-bust

Unscramble the Blue Letters


A few years ago, my eyes were opened to the dark side of the construction industry. In 2006, young Qatari students took me to go and see the mrganit worker capms. And since then I've followed the unfolding isuse of worker rights.

In the last six months, more than 300 skyscrapers in the UAE have been put on hold or canceled. Behind the hedeailns that lay behind these buildings is the fate of the often-indentured construction wekror. 1.1 mllioin of them. Mainly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Nepalese, these lrbearos risk everything to make money for their families back home. They pay a middle-man thousands of dollars to be there. And when they arvrie, they find themselves in labor camps with no water, no air conditioning, and their passports taken away.

Open Cloze


A few years ago, my eyes were opened to the dark side of the construction industry. In 2006, young Qatari students took me to go and see the _______ worker _____. And since then I've followed the unfolding _____ of worker rights.

In the last six months, more than 300 skyscrapers in the UAE have been put on hold or canceled. Behind the _________ that lay behind these buildings is the fate of the often-indentured construction ______. 1.1 _______ of them. Mainly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Nepalese, these ________ risk everything to make money for their families back home. They pay a middle-man thousands of dollars to be there. And when they ______, they find themselves in labor camps with no water, no air conditioning, and their passports taken away.

Solution


  1. worker
  2. million
  3. headlines
  4. migrant
  5. issue
  6. arrive
  7. camps
  8. laborers

Original Text


A few years ago, my eyes were opened to the dark side of the construction industry. In 2006, young Qatari students took me to go and see the migrant worker camps. And since then I've followed the unfolding issue of worker rights.

In the last six months, more than 300 skyscrapers in the UAE have been put on hold or canceled. Behind the headlines that lay behind these buildings is the fate of the often-indentured construction worker. 1.1 million of them. Mainly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Nepalese, these laborers risk everything to make money for their families back home. They pay a middle-man thousands of dollars to be there. And when they arrive, they find themselves in labor camps with no water, no air conditioning, and their passports taken away.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
labor camps 2
financial collapse 2


Important Words


  1. air
  2. arrive
  3. buildings
  4. camps
  5. canceled
  6. conditioning
  7. construction
  8. dark
  9. dollars
  10. eyes
  11. families
  12. fate
  13. find
  14. headlines
  15. hold
  16. home
  17. indian
  18. industry
  19. issue
  20. labor
  21. laborers
  22. lankan
  23. lay
  24. migrant
  25. million
  26. money
  27. months
  28. nepalese
  29. opened
  30. pakistani
  31. passports
  32. pay
  33. put
  34. qatari
  35. rights
  36. risk
  37. side
  38. skyscrapers
  39. sri
  40. students
  41. thousands
  42. uae
  43. unfolding
  44. water
  45. worker
  46. years
  47. young