TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Why do we cry? The three types of tears

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Our story is about a girl named Iris. Iris is very sensitive. (Bird cawing) So much that she is always in tears. She cries when she's sad, when she's happy, (Godzilla raors) and even tears up when things just get to her. She has special lcmaaril glands to make new tears and special tubes, called lacrimal puncta, to drain old ones away. And she ceirs so much that she goes through ten ounces of tears per day, thirty gallons a year! In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that she's crying a little bit all the time. The baasl teras that Iris cttaolnsny produces form a thin coating of three layers that cover her and keep dirt and debris away. Right next to Iris is the mcuus layer, which keeps the whole thing fastened to her. On top of it is the aqueous layer, which keeps Iris hydrated, repels invasive bacteria, and petctros her skin, or cornea, from damage. And, finally, there is the lipid layer, an oily ouetr film that keeps the surface sotomh for Iris to see through, and prevents the other lyears from evaporating. Normally, Iris goes about her day without really noticing the basal tears doing their thing. That's kind of their whole point. But one day, she meets a girl named Onion. Iris is immediately smitten. Onion looks gorgeous in her bright purple jacket, and she smells terrific. So, Iris invites Onion to her house for dinner. But when she comes in and takes off her jckaet, something terbilre happens. You see, when Onion's jacket is removed, a chemical reaction happens, converting the sulfoxides that make her semll so geart into sulfenic acid, which then becomes a natsy substance with a long name: syn-Propanethial S-oxide. The gas stings Iris, and suddenly, she can't help it, she starts weeping uncontrollably. These reflex tears are different from the basal tears that Iris is used to. Because they're designed to wash away harmful substances, or particles, they're released in much larger amounts, and their aqueous layer contains more ateidbonis to stop any microorganisms that may be trying to get in, as well. Both Iris and Onion are devastated. They know they can't continue their rliistahenop if Iris is going to hurt and cry every time Onion takes off her jacket. So, they decide to braek up. As Onion walks out the door, Iris stops crying. And immediately starts again. Only now, she's not crying reflex tears but emotional tears. When someone is either too sad or too happy, it feels like a loss of control, which can be dangerous. So, emotional tears are sent in to stabilize the mood as quickly as possible, along with other pcsyahil reactions, such as an increased haret rate and slower breathing. But stctsineis still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are helpful. They may be a social mechanism to elicit saypmthy or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain higher levels of stress hormones, such as ACTH and enkephalin, an endorphin and natural pain killer. In this case, eaiotnmol tears are also directly calming Iris down, as well as slinaigng her emotional state to others. Sorry things didn't work out with Onion, Iris, but don't wrory. As long as you have all three kinds of tears winrokg to keep you bneacald and hhtealy, it will get better. You'll see.

Open Cloze

Our story is about a girl named Iris. Iris is very sensitive. (Bird cawing) So much that she is always in tears. She cries when she's sad, when she's happy, (Godzilla _____) and even tears up when things just get to her. She has special ________ glands to make new tears and special tubes, called lacrimal puncta, to drain old ones away. And she _____ so much that she goes through ten ounces of tears per day, thirty gallons a year! In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that she's crying a little bit all the time. The _____ _____ that Iris __________ produces form a thin coating of three layers that cover her and keep dirt and debris away. Right next to Iris is the _____ layer, which keeps the whole thing fastened to her. On top of it is the aqueous layer, which keeps Iris hydrated, repels invasive bacteria, and ________ her skin, or cornea, from damage. And, finally, there is the lipid layer, an oily _____ film that keeps the surface ______ for Iris to see through, and prevents the other ______ from evaporating. Normally, Iris goes about her day without really noticing the basal tears doing their thing. That's kind of their whole point. But one day, she meets a girl named Onion. Iris is immediately smitten. Onion looks gorgeous in her bright purple jacket, and she smells terrific. So, Iris invites Onion to her house for dinner. But when she comes in and takes off her ______, something ________ happens. You see, when Onion's jacket is removed, a chemical reaction happens, converting the sulfoxides that make her _____ so _____ into sulfenic acid, which then becomes a _____ substance with a long name: syn-Propanethial S-oxide. The gas stings Iris, and suddenly, she can't help it, she starts weeping uncontrollably. These reflex tears are different from the basal tears that Iris is used to. Because they're designed to wash away harmful substances, or particles, they're released in much larger amounts, and their aqueous layer contains more __________ to stop any microorganisms that may be trying to get in, as well. Both Iris and Onion are devastated. They know they can't continue their ____________ if Iris is going to hurt and cry every time Onion takes off her jacket. So, they decide to _____ up. As Onion walks out the door, Iris stops crying. And immediately starts again. Only now, she's not crying reflex tears but emotional tears. When someone is either too sad or too happy, it feels like a loss of control, which can be dangerous. So, emotional tears are sent in to stabilize the mood as quickly as possible, along with other ________ reactions, such as an increased _____ rate and slower breathing. But __________ still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are helpful. They may be a social mechanism to elicit ________ or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain higher levels of stress hormones, such as ACTH and enkephalin, an endorphin and natural pain killer. In this case, _________ tears are also directly calming Iris down, as well as _________ her emotional state to others. Sorry things didn't work out with Onion, Iris, but don't _____. As long as you have all three kinds of tears _______ to keep you ________ and _______, it will get better. You'll see.

Solution

layers
smooth
jacket
working
tears
physical
healthy
heart
scientists
sympathy
signaling
outer
relationship
basal
worry
emotional
constantly
mucus
balanced
break
cries
roars
great
protects
smell
nasty
lacrimal
antibodies
terrible

Original Text

Our story is about a girl named Iris. Iris is very sensitive. (Bird cawing) So much that she is always in tears. She cries when she's sad, when she's happy, (Godzilla roars) and even tears up when things just get to her. She has special lacrimal glands to make new tears and special tubes, called lacrimal puncta, to drain old ones away. And she cries so much that she goes through ten ounces of tears per day, thirty gallons a year! In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that she's crying a little bit all the time. The basal tears that Iris constantly produces form a thin coating of three layers that cover her and keep dirt and debris away. Right next to Iris is the mucus layer, which keeps the whole thing fastened to her. On top of it is the aqueous layer, which keeps Iris hydrated, repels invasive bacteria, and protects her skin, or cornea, from damage. And, finally, there is the lipid layer, an oily outer film that keeps the surface smooth for Iris to see through, and prevents the other layers from evaporating. Normally, Iris goes about her day without really noticing the basal tears doing their thing. That's kind of their whole point. But one day, she meets a girl named Onion. Iris is immediately smitten. Onion looks gorgeous in her bright purple jacket, and she smells terrific. So, Iris invites Onion to her house for dinner. But when she comes in and takes off her jacket, something terrible happens. You see, when Onion's jacket is removed, a chemical reaction happens, converting the sulfoxides that make her smell so great into sulfenic acid, which then becomes a nasty substance with a long name: syn-Propanethial S-oxide. The gas stings Iris, and suddenly, she can't help it, she starts weeping uncontrollably. These reflex tears are different from the basal tears that Iris is used to. Because they're designed to wash away harmful substances, or particles, they're released in much larger amounts, and their aqueous layer contains more antibodies to stop any microorganisms that may be trying to get in, as well. Both Iris and Onion are devastated. They know they can't continue their relationship if Iris is going to hurt and cry every time Onion takes off her jacket. So, they decide to break up. As Onion walks out the door, Iris stops crying. And immediately starts again. Only now, she's not crying reflex tears but emotional tears. When someone is either too sad or too happy, it feels like a loss of control, which can be dangerous. So, emotional tears are sent in to stabilize the mood as quickly as possible, along with other physical reactions, such as an increased heart rate and slower breathing. But scientists still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are helpful. They may be a social mechanism to elicit sympathy or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain higher levels of stress hormones, such as ACTH and enkephalin, an endorphin and natural pain killer. In this case, emotional tears are also directly calming Iris down, as well as signaling her emotional state to others. Sorry things didn't work out with Onion, Iris, but don't worry. As long as you have all three kinds of tears working to keep you balanced and healthy, it will get better. You'll see.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
emotional tears	4
basal tears	3
girl named	2
reflex tears	2

Important Words

acid
acth
amounts
antibodies
aqueous
bacteria
balanced
basal
bird
bit
break
breathing
bright
called
calming
case
cawing
chemical
closely
coating
constantly
continue
control
converting
cornea
cover
cries
cry
crying
damage
dangerous
day
debris
decide
designed
devastated
dinner
dirt
door
drain
elicit
emotional
endorphin
enkephalin
evaporating
fact
fastened
feels
film
finally
form
gallons
gas
girl
glands
godzilla
gorgeous
great
happy
harmful
healthy
heart
helpful
higher
hormones
house
hurt
hydrated
immediately
increased
invasive
invites
iris
jacket
killer
kind
kinds
lacrimal
larger
layer
layers
levels
lipid
long
loss
mechanism
meets
microorganisms
mood
mucus
named
nasty
natural
noticing
oily
onion
ounces
outer
pain
particles
physical
point
prevents
produces
protects
puncta
purple
quickly
rate
reaction
reactions
reflex
relationship
released
removed
repels
roars
sad
scientists
sensitive
show
signaling
skin
slower
smell
smells
smitten
smooth
social
special
stabilize
starts
state
stings
stop
stops
story
stress
studies
submission
substance
substances
suddenly
sulfenic
sulfoxides
surface
sympathy
takes
tears
ten
terrible
terrific
thin
time
top
tubes
uncontrollably
walks
wash
weeping
work
working
worry