full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Eve Gaus and Vanessa Ruiz: Why is pneumonia so dangerous?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


These mrcsiooipcc invaders enter the body via droplets either in the air we breathe, or when we touch our eyes, noses, or mouths after touching a contaminated surface. Then, they face the respiratory tract’s first line defense: the mucociliary escalator. The mucociliary escalator consists of mcuus that traps irdvaens and tiny hairs called cilia that carry the mucus toward the mouth, where it can be cgouehd out.

But some of these invaders may get past the mucociliary eaclasotr into the lungs, where they meet the alveoli. Because alveoli sevre as critical enhcxgae ponits between the blood and air from the outside world, they have their own specialized types of white blood clels, or macrophages, which defend against foreign organisms by enveloping and eating them. When pathogens enter the lungs, the macrophages work to destroy them. The immune system releases additional white blood cells in the aveolli to help. As these immune cells fight the pathogens, they generate inflammation— and fluid as a by-product of the inflammation.

Open Cloze


These ___________ invaders enter the body via droplets either in the air we breathe, or when we touch our eyes, noses, or mouths after touching a contaminated surface. Then, they face the respiratory tract’s first line defense: the mucociliary escalator. The mucociliary escalator consists of _____ that traps ________ and tiny hairs called cilia that carry the mucus toward the mouth, where it can be _______ out.

But some of these invaders may get past the mucociliary _________ into the lungs, where they meet the alveoli. Because alveoli _____ as critical ________ ______ between the blood and air from the outside world, they have their own specialized types of white blood _____, or macrophages, which defend against foreign organisms by enveloping and eating them. When pathogens enter the lungs, the macrophages work to destroy them. The immune system releases additional white blood cells in the _______ to help. As these immune cells fight the pathogens, they generate inflammation— and fluid as a by-product of the inflammation.

Solution


  1. coughed
  2. invaders
  3. cells
  4. serve
  5. exchange
  6. alveoli
  7. escalator
  8. mucus
  9. points
  10. microscopic

Original Text


These microscopic invaders enter the body via droplets either in the air we breathe, or when we touch our eyes, noses, or mouths after touching a contaminated surface. Then, they face the respiratory tract’s first line defense: the mucociliary escalator. The mucociliary escalator consists of mucus that traps invaders and tiny hairs called cilia that carry the mucus toward the mouth, where it can be coughed out.

But some of these invaders may get past the mucociliary escalator into the lungs, where they meet the alveoli. Because alveoli serve as critical exchange points between the blood and air from the outside world, they have their own specialized types of white blood cells, or macrophages, which defend against foreign organisms by enveloping and eating them. When pathogens enter the lungs, the macrophages work to destroy them. The immune system releases additional white blood cells in the alveoli to help. As these immune cells fight the pathogens, they generate inflammation— and fluid as a by-product of the inflammation.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
mucociliary escalator 3
carbon dioxide 2
white blood 2


Important Words


  1. additional
  2. air
  3. alveoli
  4. blood
  5. body
  6. breathe
  7. called
  8. carry
  9. cells
  10. cilia
  11. consists
  12. contaminated
  13. coughed
  14. critical
  15. defend
  16. destroy
  17. droplets
  18. eating
  19. enter
  20. enveloping
  21. escalator
  22. exchange
  23. eyes
  24. face
  25. fight
  26. fluid
  27. foreign
  28. generate
  29. hairs
  30. immune
  31. inflammation
  32. invaders
  33. line
  34. lungs
  35. macrophages
  36. meet
  37. microscopic
  38. mouth
  39. mouths
  40. mucociliary
  41. mucus
  42. noses
  43. organisms
  44. pathogens
  45. points
  46. releases
  47. respiratory
  48. serve
  49. specialized
  50. surface
  51. system
  52. tiny
  53. touch
  54. touching
  55. traps
  56. types
  57. white
  58. work
  59. world