full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Brian Cox: Why we need the explorers

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Beautiful words about the power of science and exploration. The argument has always been made, and it will always be made, that we know enough about the universe. You could have made it in the 1920s; you wouldn't have had penicillin. You could have made it in the 1890s; you wouldn't have the transistor. And it's made today in these difficult eomonicc times. Surely, we know enough. We don't need to discover anything else about our universe.

Let me lveae the last wrods to someone who's rapidly becoming a hero of mine, Humphrey Davy, who did his scinece at the turn of the 19th century. He was clearly under assault all the time. "We know enough at the turn of the 19th century. Just exploit it; just build things." He said this, he said, "Nothing is more fatal to the progress of the human mind than to presume that our views of science are ultimate, that our turmhpis are complete, that there are no miresytes in nature, and that there are no new worlds to conquer."

Open Cloze


Beautiful words about the power of science and exploration. The argument has always been made, and it will always be made, that we know enough about the universe. You could have made it in the 1920s; you wouldn't have had penicillin. You could have made it in the 1890s; you wouldn't have the transistor. And it's made today in these difficult ________ times. Surely, we know enough. We don't need to discover anything else about our universe.

Let me _____ the last _____ to someone who's rapidly becoming a hero of mine, Humphrey Davy, who did his _______ at the turn of the 19th century. He was clearly under assault all the time. "We know enough at the turn of the 19th century. Just exploit it; just build things." He said this, he said, "Nothing is more fatal to the progress of the human mind than to presume that our views of science are ultimate, that our ________ are complete, that there are no _________ in nature, and that there are no new worlds to conquer."

Solution


  1. words
  2. science
  3. mysteries
  4. economic
  5. leave
  6. triumphs

Original Text


Beautiful words about the power of science and exploration. The argument has always been made, and it will always be made, that we know enough about the universe. You could have made it in the 1920s; you wouldn't have had penicillin. You could have made it in the 1890s; you wouldn't have the transistor. And it's made today in these difficult economic times. Surely, we know enough. We don't need to discover anything else about our universe.

Let me leave the last words to someone who's rapidly becoming a hero of mine, Humphrey Davy, who did his science at the turn of the 19th century. He was clearly under assault all the time. "We know enough at the turn of the 19th century. Just exploit it; just build things." He said this, he said, "Nothing is more fatal to the progress of the human mind than to presume that our views of science are ultimate, that our triumphs are complete, that there are no mysteries in nature, and that there are no new worlds to conquer."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
solar system 5
home planet 3
difficult economic 2
public spending 2
yellow set 2
yellow blob 2
cassini space 2
space probe 2
tiny moon 2
million miles 2
prime candidate 2
famous picture 2
emit light 2
black lines 2
billion stars 2
million light 2
light years 2
billion suns 2
billion miles 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
cassini space probe 2
million light years 2

Important Words


  1. argument
  2. assault
  3. beautiful
  4. build
  5. century
  6. complete
  7. conquer
  8. davy
  9. difficult
  10. discover
  11. economic
  12. exploit
  13. exploration
  14. fatal
  15. hero
  16. human
  17. humphrey
  18. leave
  19. mind
  20. mysteries
  21. nature
  22. penicillin
  23. power
  24. presume
  25. progress
  26. rapidly
  27. science
  28. surely
  29. time
  30. times
  31. today
  32. transistor
  33. triumphs
  34. turn
  35. ultimate
  36. universe
  37. views
  38. words
  39. worlds