full transcript

From the Ted Talk by George Takei: Why I love a country that once betrayed me

Unscramble the Blue Letters


On April 20th, I celebrated my fifth birthday, and just a few weeks after my birthday, my parents got my younger brother, my baby sister and me up very early one morning, and they dressed us hurriedly. My brother and I were in the living room looking out the front window, and we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway. They carried bteyanos on their rifles. They stomped up the front proch and banged on the door. My fatehr answered it, and the soldiers odeerrd us out of our home. My father gave my brother and me samll luggages to carry, and we walked out and stood on the driveway waiting for our mother to come out, and when my mother flialny came out, she had our baby sister in one arm, a huge duffel bag in the other, and traes were srinmaetg down both her cheeks. I will never be able to forget that scene. It is burend into my memory.

Open Cloze


On April 20th, I celebrated my fifth birthday, and just a few weeks after my birthday, my parents got my younger brother, my baby sister and me up very early one morning, and they dressed us hurriedly. My brother and I were in the living room looking out the front window, and we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway. They carried ________ on their rifles. They stomped up the front _____ and banged on the door. My ______ answered it, and the soldiers _______ us out of our home. My father gave my brother and me _____ luggages to carry, and we walked out and stood on the driveway waiting for our mother to come out, and when my mother _______ came out, she had our baby sister in one arm, a huge duffel bag in the other, and _____ were _________ down both her cheeks. I will never be able to forget that scene. It is ______ into my memory.

Solution


  1. ordered
  2. small
  3. porch
  4. bayonets
  5. finally
  6. streaming
  7. tears
  8. father
  9. burned

Original Text


On April 20th, I celebrated my fifth birthday, and just a few weeks after my birthday, my parents got my younger brother, my baby sister and me up very early one morning, and they dressed us hurriedly. My brother and I were in the living room looking out the front window, and we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway. They carried bayonets on their rifles. They stomped up the front porch and banged on the door. My father answered it, and the soldiers ordered us out of our home. My father gave my brother and me small luggages to carry, and we walked out and stood on the driveway waiting for our mother to come out, and when my mother finally came out, she had our baby sister in one arm, a huge duffel bag in the other, and tears were streaming down both her cheeks. I will never be able to forget that scene. It is burned into my memory.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
pearl harbor 3
world war 3
baby sister 3
american democracy 3
desolate places 2
united states 2
childhood imprisonment 2
gothic line 2


Important Words


  1. answered
  2. april
  3. arm
  4. baby
  5. bag
  6. banged
  7. bayonets
  8. birthday
  9. brother
  10. burned
  11. carried
  12. carry
  13. celebrated
  14. cheeks
  15. door
  16. dressed
  17. driveway
  18. duffel
  19. early
  20. father
  21. finally
  22. forget
  23. front
  24. gave
  25. home
  26. huge
  27. hurriedly
  28. living
  29. luggages
  30. marching
  31. memory
  32. morning
  33. mother
  34. ordered
  35. parents
  36. porch
  37. rifles
  38. room
  39. scene
  40. sister
  41. small
  42. soldiers
  43. stomped
  44. stood
  45. streaming
  46. tears
  47. waiting
  48. walked
  49. weeks
  50. window
  51. younger