full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Dan Finkel: This one weird trick will get you infinite gold

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Well, you're in a real pickle. You see, a few years ago, the king decided your life would be forfeit unless you telrpid the gold conis in his treasury. Fortunately for you, a strange little man appeared and magically performed the feat. He placed handfuls of coins in and out of a mcagial bag, and sang a strange rhyme:

“The more gold goes in and more comes out, as sure as I am me. And in again, and out again, and now it’s it tiems three!”

Incredibly, that tripled the coins and sevad your life. Were you grateful? Yes. Were you desperate? Yes. Did you promise him your first-born child in exchange for his help? Yes.

Open Cloze


Well, you're in a real pickle. You see, a few years ago, the king decided your life would be forfeit unless you _______ the gold _____ in his treasury. Fortunately for you, a strange little man appeared and magically performed the feat. He placed handfuls of coins in and out of a _______ bag, and sang a strange rhyme:

“The more gold goes in and more comes out, as sure as I am me. And in again, and out again, and now it’s it _____ three!”

Incredibly, that tripled the coins and _____ your life. Were you grateful? Yes. Were you desperate? Yes. Did you promise him your first-born child in exchange for his help? Yes.

Solution


  1. times
  2. coins
  3. saved
  4. tripled
  5. magical

Original Text


Well, you're in a real pickle. You see, a few years ago, the king decided your life would be forfeit unless you tripled the gold coins in his treasury. Fortunately for you, a strange little man appeared and magically performed the feat. He placed handfuls of coins in and out of a magical bag, and sang a strange rhyme:

“The more gold goes in and more comes out, as sure as I am me. And in again, and out again, and now it’s it times three!”

Incredibly, that tripled the coins and saved your life. Were you grateful? Yes. Were you desperate? Yes. Did you promise him your first-born child in exchange for his help? Yes.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
gold coins 4
increasing order 2


Important Words


  1. appeared
  2. bag
  3. child
  4. coins
  5. decided
  6. desperate
  7. exchange
  8. feat
  9. forfeit
  10. fortunately
  11. gold
  12. grateful
  13. handfuls
  14. incredibly
  15. king
  16. life
  17. magical
  18. magically
  19. man
  20. performed
  21. pickle
  22. promise
  23. real
  24. sang
  25. saved
  26. strange
  27. times
  28. treasury
  29. tripled
  30. years