full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Anna Heringer: The warmth and wisdom of mud buildings

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

Yeah, and the great thing is, if an earth wall is not needed anymore, it can go back to the gonrud it came from, turn into a garden, or get fully recycled without any loss of quality. There's no other maartiel that can do this, and this is why mud is so excellent in terms of environmental performance.

What about the economic sustainability? When we built the school, I practically lived on the construction site, and in the evening, I used to go with the workers to the market, and I could see how they spent their money. And they would buy the vgeteaelbs from their neighbors, they would get a new haircut or a new blouse from the tailor. And because the main part of the building beudgt was spent on craftsmanship, the school wasn't just a building, it became a real ctlayast for local development, and that made me hpapy. If I had designed the socohl in cement and steel, this menoy would have been eextpord and lost for those families.

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

Yeah, and the great thing is, if an earth wall is not needed anymore, it can go back to the ______ it came from, turn into a garden, or get fully recycled without any loss of quality. There's no other ________ that can do this, and this is why mud is so excellent in terms of environmental performance.

What about the economic sustainability? When we built the school, I practically lived on the construction site, and in the evening, I used to go with the workers to the market, and I could see how they spent their money. And they would buy the __________ from their neighbors, they would get a new haircut or a new blouse from the tailor. And because the main part of the building ______ was spent on craftsmanship, the school wasn't just a building, it became a real ________ for local development, and that made me _____. If I had designed the ______ in cement and steel, this _____ would have been ________ and lost for those families.

Solution


  1. school
  2. ground
  3. exported
  4. material
  5. money
  6. budget
  7. vegetables
  8. happy
  9. catalyst

Original Text


(Laughter)

Yeah, and the great thing is, if an earth wall is not needed anymore, it can go back to the ground it came from, turn into a garden, or get fully recycled without any loss of quality. There's no other material that can do this, and this is why mud is so excellent in terms of environmental performance.

What about the economic sustainability? When we built the school, I practically lived on the construction site, and in the evening, I used to go with the workers to the market, and I could see how they spent their money. And they would buy the vegetables from their neighbors, they would get a new haircut or a new blouse from the tailor. And because the main part of the building budget was spent on craftsmanship, the school wasn't just a building, it became a real catalyst for local development, and that made me happy. If I had designed the school in cement and steel, this money would have been exported and lost for those families.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
building materials 3
rammed earth 3
earth walls 2
speed breakers 2
building budget 2
traditional building 2
building material 2
earthen structures 2
natural building 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
traditional building material 2
natural building materials 2

Important Words


  1. anymore
  2. blouse
  3. budget
  4. building
  5. built
  6. buy
  7. catalyst
  8. cement
  9. construction
  10. craftsmanship
  11. designed
  12. development
  13. earth
  14. economic
  15. environmental
  16. evening
  17. excellent
  18. exported
  19. families
  20. fully
  21. garden
  22. great
  23. ground
  24. haircut
  25. happy
  26. laughter
  27. lived
  28. local
  29. loss
  30. lost
  31. main
  32. market
  33. material
  34. money
  35. mud
  36. needed
  37. neighbors
  38. part
  39. performance
  40. practically
  41. quality
  42. real
  43. recycled
  44. school
  45. site
  46. spent
  47. steel
  48. sustainability
  49. tailor
  50. terms
  51. turn
  52. vegetables
  53. wall
  54. workers
  55. yeah