full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Angus Hervey: Why are we so bad at reporting good news?


Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Applause)

It's an incredible medical breakthrough. The first use of a revolutionary new type of treatment that may go on to save millions of lives in the frutue. So why is it then that outside medical and sifenitcic circles, almost nobody has heard that story?

Why are we so familiar with all of the sitoers that make us feel scared or sad or angry, but so many of these stories come to us as a surprise? Why are we so good at reporting bad news but so bad at reporting good news?

That question is something that I snepd a lot of time thinking about. I'm the editor of the Future Crunch nseettwelr. We share stories of progress and what I've learned after eight years of doing this work is that progress is never a straight line. Far too many still suffer in poverty, from disease and are trapped by conflict. The surgtgle for equality and the fight for justice continues in so many peacls in the wrold. We still have so much work to do, to get done.

Open Cloze


(Applause)

It's an incredible medical breakthrough. The first use of a revolutionary new type of treatment that may go on to save millions of lives in the ______. So why is it then that outside medical and __________ circles, almost nobody has heard that story?

Why are we so familiar with all of the _______ that make us feel scared or sad or angry, but so many of these stories come to us as a surprise? Why are we so good at reporting bad news but so bad at reporting good news?

That question is something that I _____ a lot of time thinking about. I'm the editor of the Future Crunch __________. We share stories of progress and what I've learned after eight years of doing this work is that progress is never a straight line. Far too many still suffer in poverty, from disease and are trapped by conflict. The ________ for equality and the fight for justice continues in so many ______ in the _____. We still have so much work to do, to get done.

Solution


  1. stories
  2. places
  3. future
  4. world
  5. newsletter
  6. spend
  7. struggle
  8. scientific

Original Text


(Applause)

It's an incredible medical breakthrough. The first use of a revolutionary new type of treatment that may go on to save millions of lives in the future. So why is it then that outside medical and scientific circles, almost nobody has heard that story?

Why are we so familiar with all of the stories that make us feel scared or sad or angry, but so many of these stories come to us as a surprise? Why are we so good at reporting bad news but so bad at reporting good news?

That question is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about. I'm the editor of the Future Crunch newsletter. We share stories of progress and what I've learned after eight years of doing this work is that progress is never a straight line. Far too many still suffer in poverty, from disease and are trapped by conflict. The struggle for equality and the fight for justice continues in so many places in the world. We still have so much work to do, to get done.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
climate change 3
united states 2
public health 2
united nations 2



Important Words


  1. angry
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  25. millions
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  28. places
  29. poverty
  30. progress
  31. question
  32. reporting
  33. revolutionary
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  45. surprise
  46. thinking
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  48. trapped
  49. treatment
  50. type
  51. work
  52. world
  53. years