full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tracy Chevalier: Finding the story inside the painting

Unscramble the Blue Letters

This painting made me stop in my tracks for three reasons: One is the disconnection between his mouth that's smiling and his eyes that are wistful. He's not happy, and why isn't he happy? The second thing that really attracted me were his bright red cheeks. He is bhlinusg. He's blushing for his pirartot being made! This must be a guy who blushes all the time. What is he tnhinkig about that's making him blush? The third thing that made me stop in my tracks is his absolutely gguoores doublet. Silk, gray, those bateiuufl buttons. And you know what it makes me think of, is it's sort of snug and puffy; it's like a devut spread over a bed.

Open Cloze

This painting made me stop in my tracks for three reasons: One is the disconnection between his mouth that's smiling and his eyes that are wistful. He's not happy, and why isn't he happy? The second thing that really attracted me were his bright red cheeks. He is ________. He's blushing for his ________ being made! This must be a guy who blushes all the time. What is he ________ about that's making him blush? The third thing that made me stop in my tracks is his absolutely ________ doublet. Silk, gray, those _________ buttons. And you know what it makes me think of, is it's sort of snug and puffy; it's like a _____ spread over a bed.

Solution

  1. gorgeous
  2. beautiful
  3. thinking
  4. blushing
  5. portrait
  6. duvet

Original Text

This painting made me stop in my tracks for three reasons: One is the disconnection between his mouth that's smiling and his eyes that are wistful. He's not happy, and why isn't he happy? The second thing that really attracted me were his bright red cheeks. He is blushing. He's blushing for his portrait being made! This must be a guy who blushes all the time. What is he thinking about that's making him blush? The third thing that made me stop in my tracks is his absolutely gorgeous doublet. Silk, gray, those beautiful buttons. And you know what it makes me think of, is it's sort of snug and puffy; it's like a duvet spread over a bed.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
pearl earring 3
pearl earrings 2
long time 2
national portrait 2

Important Words

  1. absolutely
  2. attracted
  3. beautiful
  4. bed
  5. blush
  6. blushes
  7. blushing
  8. bright
  9. buttons
  10. cheeks
  11. disconnection
  12. doublet
  13. duvet
  14. eyes
  15. gorgeous
  16. gray
  17. guy
  18. happy
  19. making
  20. mouth
  21. painting
  22. portrait
  23. red
  24. silk
  25. smiling
  26. snug
  27. sort
  28. spread
  29. stop
  30. thinking
  31. time
  32. tracks
  33. wistful