full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Maya Shankar: Why change is so scary -- and how to unlock its potential

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When I was a kid, the violin was the center of my life. I'd run home from the bus stop after school and practice for hours. Every satarudy, my mom and I would wake up at four in the morning to catch a train to New York so I could study at Juliard. Here's a throwback to eight-year-old me performing the violin. Some questionable fashion choices from young Maya here, not going to lie.

But anyway, when I was a teenager, my musical idol, Itzhak Perlman, invited me to be his pavrite student. And my big dream of becoming a concert violisnit felt within rcaeh. But then one mnnorig when I was 15, I was practicing this tricky technical passage. I struggled to get it right, and I overextended my finger on a single note. I hread a popping sound. I’d pnraeeltmny damaged the tndoens in my hand, and my darem was over.

Open Cloze


When I was a kid, the violin was the center of my life. I'd run home from the bus stop after school and practice for hours. Every ________, my mom and I would wake up at four in the morning to catch a train to New York so I could study at Juliard. Here's a throwback to eight-year-old me performing the violin. Some questionable fashion choices from young Maya here, not going to lie.

But anyway, when I was a teenager, my musical idol, Itzhak Perlman, invited me to be his _______ student. And my big dream of becoming a concert _________ felt within _____. But then one _______ when I was 15, I was practicing this tricky technical passage. I struggled to get it right, and I overextended my finger on a single note. I _____ a popping sound. I’d ___________ damaged the _______ in my hand, and my _____ was over.

Solution


  1. violinist
  2. tendons
  3. private
  4. permanently
  5. morning
  6. dream
  7. reach
  8. heard
  9. saturday

Original Text


When I was a kid, the violin was the center of my life. I'd run home from the bus stop after school and practice for hours. Every Saturday, my mom and I would wake up at four in the morning to catch a train to New York so I could study at Juliard. Here's a throwback to eight-year-old me performing the violin. Some questionable fashion choices from young Maya here, not going to lie.

But anyway, when I was a teenager, my musical idol, Itzhak Perlman, invited me to be his private student. And my big dream of becoming a concert violinist felt within reach. But then one morning when I was 15, I was practicing this tricky technical passage. I struggled to get it right, and I overextended my finger on a single note. I heard a popping sound. I’d permanently damaged the tendons in my hand, and my dream was over.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
unexpected change 4
cognitive scientist 2
slight change 2
percent chance 2
question number 2
broken heart 2


Important Words


  1. big
  2. bus
  3. catch
  4. center
  5. choices
  6. concert
  7. damaged
  8. dream
  9. fashion
  10. felt
  11. finger
  12. hand
  13. heard
  14. home
  15. hours
  16. idol
  17. invited
  18. itzhak
  19. juliard
  20. kid
  21. lie
  22. life
  23. maya
  24. mom
  25. morning
  26. musical
  27. note
  28. overextended
  29. passage
  30. performing
  31. perlman
  32. permanently
  33. popping
  34. practice
  35. practicing
  36. private
  37. questionable
  38. reach
  39. run
  40. saturday
  41. school
  42. single
  43. sound
  44. stop
  45. struggled
  46. student
  47. study
  48. technical
  49. teenager
  50. tendons
  51. throwback
  52. train
  53. tricky
  54. violin
  55. violinist
  56. wake
  57. york
  58. young