TedTest

From the Ted Talk by George Zaidan and Charles Morton: How do cancer cells behave differently from healthy ones?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

We all srtat life as one single cell. Then that cell divides and we are two cells, then four, then eight. Cells form tuessis, tissues form onargs, organs form us. These cell divisions, by which we go from a snilge cell to 100 trillion cells, are called growth. And growth seems like a slmipe thing because when we think of it, we tpiallcyy think of someone getting taller or, later in life, wider, but to cells, growth isn't simple. Cell division is an intricate chemical dance that's part individual, part community-driven. And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells, some times things go wrong. Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA, gets a typo, what we call a mutation. Most of the time, the cell senses mkitsaes and sthus itself down, or the system detects a troublemaker and eianmetlis it. But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes, driving the cell to divide recklessly. That one rogue cell becomes two, then four, then eight. At every stage, the incorrect irocinnustts are passed along to the cells' offspring. Weeks, months, or years after that one rgoue cell tmeofrsarnd, you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast. Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal a polerbm in your intestine, prostate, or bladder. Or, a ruonite blood test might count too many white cells or elevated liver enzymes. Your doctor dlievres the bad news: it's cancer. From here your strategy will depend on where the cceanr is and how far it's progressed. If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place, surgery might be all you need, if anything. If the tumor is fast-growing or invading nearby tissue, your doctor might recommend radiation or sgreury followed by radiation. If the cancer has spread, or if it's inherently everywhere like a leukemia, your doctor will most likely recommend chemotherapy or a combination of radiation and chemo. Radiation and most frmos of chemo work by physically shredding the cells' DNA or dirnstupig the copying maecnhriy. But neither ritaadion nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only cancer clles. Radiation hits whatever you point it at, and your boold stream carries chemo-therapeutics all over your body. So, what happens when different cells get hit? Let's look at a healthy liver cell, a healthy hair cell, and a cenucoras cell. The hthealy liver cell divides only when it is stressed; the healthy hair cell divides frequently; and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and recklessly. When you take a chemotherapeutic drug, it will hit all of these cells. And remember that the drugs work typically by disrupting cell diosivin. So, every time a cell divides, it opens itself up to attack, and that means the more frequently a cell divides, the more likely the drug is to kill it. So, remember that hair cell? It dediivs fenrlqutey and isn't a tahret. And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells. So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment parallels these tissue types: hair loss, skin rhaess, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weight loss, and pain. That makes ssene because these are the cells that get hit the hardest. So, in the end, it is all about gwrtoh. Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery and forces them to put the pedal to the metal, growing rapidly and recklessly. But, using chtempertiauheoc drugs, we take avgadante of that aggressiveness, and we turn cancer's main stnegtrh into a weakness.

Open Cloze

We all _____ life as one single cell. Then that cell divides and we are two cells, then four, then eight. Cells form _______, tissues form ______, organs form us. These cell divisions, by which we go from a ______ cell to 100 trillion cells, are called growth. And growth seems like a ______ thing because when we think of it, we _________ think of someone getting taller or, later in life, wider, but to cells, growth isn't simple. Cell division is an intricate chemical dance that's part individual, part community-driven. And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells, some times things go wrong. Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA, gets a typo, what we call a mutation. Most of the time, the cell senses ________ and _____ itself down, or the system detects a troublemaker and __________ it. But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes, driving the cell to divide recklessly. That one rogue cell becomes two, then four, then eight. At every stage, the incorrect ____________ are passed along to the cells' offspring. Weeks, months, or years after that one _____ cell ___________, you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast. Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal a _______ in your intestine, prostate, or bladder. Or, a _______ blood test might count too many white cells or elevated liver enzymes. Your doctor ________ the bad news: it's cancer. From here your strategy will depend on where the ______ is and how far it's progressed. If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place, surgery might be all you need, if anything. If the tumor is fast-growing or invading nearby tissue, your doctor might recommend radiation or _______ followed by radiation. If the cancer has spread, or if it's inherently everywhere like a leukemia, your doctor will most likely recommend chemotherapy or a combination of radiation and chemo. Radiation and most _____ of chemo work by physically shredding the cells' DNA or __________ the copying _________. But neither _________ nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only cancer _____. Radiation hits whatever you point it at, and your _____ stream carries chemo-therapeutics all over your body. So, what happens when different cells get hit? Let's look at a healthy liver cell, a healthy hair cell, and a _________ cell. The _______ liver cell divides only when it is stressed; the healthy hair cell divides frequently; and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and recklessly. When you take a chemotherapeutic drug, it will hit all of these cells. And remember that the drugs work typically by disrupting cell ________. So, every time a cell divides, it opens itself up to attack, and that means the more frequently a cell divides, the more likely the drug is to kill it. So, remember that hair cell? It _______ __________ and isn't a ______. And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells. So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment parallels these tissue types: hair loss, skin ______, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weight loss, and pain. That makes _____ because these are the cells that get hit the hardest. So, in the end, it is all about ______. Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery and forces them to put the pedal to the metal, growing rapidly and recklessly. But, using ________________ drugs, we take _________ of that aggressiveness, and we turn cancer's main ________ into a weakness.

Solution

disrupting
rashes
start
cancerous
advantage
chemotherapeutic
surgery
routine
problem
single
frequently
division
growth
delivers
cells
organs
typically
forms
mistakes
simple
machinery
instructions
eliminates
rogue
sense
tissues
radiation
cancer
blood
threat
strength
shuts
healthy
transformed
divides

Original Text

We all start life as one single cell. Then that cell divides and we are two cells, then four, then eight. Cells form tissues, tissues form organs, organs form us. These cell divisions, by which we go from a single cell to 100 trillion cells, are called growth. And growth seems like a simple thing because when we think of it, we typically think of someone getting taller or, later in life, wider, but to cells, growth isn't simple. Cell division is an intricate chemical dance that's part individual, part community-driven. And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells, some times things go wrong. Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA, gets a typo, what we call a mutation. Most of the time, the cell senses mistakes and shuts itself down, or the system detects a troublemaker and eliminates it. But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes, driving the cell to divide recklessly. That one rogue cell becomes two, then four, then eight. At every stage, the incorrect instructions are passed along to the cells' offspring. Weeks, months, or years after that one rogue cell transformed, you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast. Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal a problem in your intestine, prostate, or bladder. Or, a routine blood test might count too many white cells or elevated liver enzymes. Your doctor delivers the bad news: it's cancer. From here your strategy will depend on where the cancer is and how far it's progressed. If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place, surgery might be all you need, if anything. If the tumor is fast-growing or invading nearby tissue, your doctor might recommend radiation or surgery followed by radiation. If the cancer has spread, or if it's inherently everywhere like a leukemia, your doctor will most likely recommend chemotherapy or a combination of radiation and chemo. Radiation and most forms of chemo work by physically shredding the cells' DNA or disrupting the copying machinery. But neither radiation nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only cancer cells. Radiation hits whatever you point it at, and your blood stream carries chemo-therapeutics all over your body. So, what happens when different cells get hit? Let's look at a healthy liver cell, a healthy hair cell, and a cancerous cell. The healthy liver cell divides only when it is stressed; the healthy hair cell divides frequently; and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and recklessly. When you take a chemotherapeutic drug, it will hit all of these cells. And remember that the drugs work typically by disrupting cell division. So, every time a cell divides, it opens itself up to attack, and that means the more frequently a cell divides, the more likely the drug is to kill it. So, remember that hair cell? It divides frequently and isn't a threat. And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells. So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment parallels these tissue types: hair loss, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weight loss, and pain. That makes sense because these are the cells that get hit the hardest. So, in the end, it is all about growth. Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery and forces them to put the pedal to the metal, growing rapidly and recklessly. But, using chemotherapeutic drugs, we take advantage of that aggressiveness, and we turn cancer's main strength into a weakness.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
cell divides	4
single cell	2
cell division	2
rogue cell	2
healthy liver	2
healthy hair	2

Important Words

advantage
aggressiveness
attack
bad
bathroom
bladder
blood
body
breast
bypass
call
called
cancer
cancerous
carries
cell
cells
chemical
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dividing
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dna
doctor
driving
drug
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enzymes
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form
forms
frequently
growing
growth
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hair
hardest
healthy
hijacks
hit
hits
incorrect
individual
inherently
instructions
intestine
intricate
invading
kill
leukemia
life
list
liver
loss
lump
machinery
main
means
metal
mistakes
months
mutation
mutations
natural
nausea
nearby
neighborhood
offspring
opens
organs
pain
parallels
part
passed
pedal
physically
place
point
problem
progressed
prostate
put
radiation
rapidly
rashes
recklessly
recommend
remember
reveal
rogue
routine
sense
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set
shredding
shuts
side
simple
single
skin
spread
stage
start
strategy
stream
strength
surgery
system
taller
target
test
threat
time
times
tissue
tissues
transformed
treatment
trillion
troublemaker
tumor
turn
typically
typo
unpleasant
vomiting
weakness
weeks
weight
white
wider
work
wrong
years