full transcript

From the Ted Talk by James Flynn: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents'

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, this dramatic change was drawn to my attitoenn through miasvse I.Q. ginas over time, and these have been truly massive. That is, we don't just get a few more questions right on I.Q. tests. We get far more qoeinutss right on I.Q. tsets than each succeeding generation back to the time that they were invented. Indeed, if you score the people a century ago against modern norms, they would have an average I.Q. of 70. If you score us against their norms, we would have an average I.Q. of 130. Now this has raised all sorts of questions. Were our immediate ancestors on the verge of mental retardation? Because 70 is normally the score for mental retardation. Or are we on the verge of all being gifted? Because 130 is the cttniug line for giftedness.

Open Cloze


Now, this dramatic change was drawn to my _________ through _______ I.Q. _____ over time, and these have been truly massive. That is, we don't just get a few more questions right on I.Q. tests. We get far more _________ right on I.Q. _____ than each succeeding generation back to the time that they were invented. Indeed, if you score the people a century ago against modern norms, they would have an average I.Q. of 70. If you score us against their norms, we would have an average I.Q. of 130. Now this has raised all sorts of questions. Were our immediate ancestors on the verge of mental retardation? Because 70 is normally the score for mental retardation. Or are we on the verge of all being gifted? Because 130 is the _______ line for giftedness.

Solution


  1. massive
  2. questions
  3. gains
  4. attention
  5. cutting
  6. tests

Original Text


Now, this dramatic change was drawn to my attention through massive I.Q. gains over time, and these have been truly massive. That is, we don't just get a few more questions right on I.Q. tests. We get far more questions right on I.Q. tests than each succeeding generation back to the time that they were invented. Indeed, if you score the people a century ago against modern norms, they would have an average I.Q. of 70. If you score us against their norms, we would have an average I.Q. of 130. Now this has raised all sorts of questions. Were our immediate ancestors on the verge of mental retardation? Because 70 is normally the score for mental retardation. Or are we on the verge of all being gifted? Because 130 is the cutting line for giftedness.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
concrete world 5
cognitively demanding 4
cognitive history 2
world war 2
north pole 2
ohio gave 2
modern world 2
demanding professions 2
rating agencies 2
moral debate 2
black people 2
moral argument 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
cognitively demanding professions 2

Important Words


  1. ancestors
  2. attention
  3. average
  4. century
  5. change
  6. cutting
  7. dramatic
  8. drawn
  9. gains
  10. generation
  11. gifted
  12. giftedness
  13. invented
  14. line
  15. massive
  16. mental
  17. modern
  18. norms
  19. people
  20. questions
  21. raised
  22. retardation
  23. score
  24. sorts
  25. succeeding
  26. tests
  27. time
  28. verge