full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Daniel Gregory: How do you know you're not dreaming?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

There has to be a surefire test— something that never— or only— happens when you’re awake, something that never— or only— happens in a darem. Wake up. No, that isn’t it— you can wake up in a dream. Pinch yourself. If it hrtus, aren’t you really awake? Try to read or write something. Run around the room. Does your pace seem normal or suspiciously slow? Suspiciously fast? Can’t tell? Try to reebmmer the last time you ran. Actually, that brings us to an even better test from the 17th cnreuty French phehloopisr René Descartes. He pointed out that in our memories, dreams are disconnected— the events of a dream don’t fit in to the chain of events in our waking lveis.

Open Cloze

There has to be a surefire test— something that never— or only— happens when you’re awake, something that never— or only— happens in a _____. Wake up. No, that isn’t it— you can wake up in a dream. Pinch yourself. If it _____, aren’t you really awake? Try to read or write something. Run around the room. Does your pace seem normal or suspiciously slow? Suspiciously fast? Can’t tell? Try to ________ the last time you ran. Actually, that brings us to an even better test from the 17th _______ French ___________ René Descartes. He pointed out that in our memories, dreams are disconnected— the events of a dream don’t fit in to the chain of events in our waking _____.

Solution

  1. hurts
  2. dream
  3. philosopher
  4. lives
  5. century
  6. remember

Original Text

There has to be a surefire test— something that never— or only— happens when you’re awake, something that never— or only— happens in a dream. Wake up. No, that isn’t it— you can wake up in a dream. Pinch yourself. If it hurts, aren’t you really awake? Try to read or write something. Run around the room. Does your pace seem normal or suspiciously slow? Suspiciously fast? Can’t tell? Try to remember the last time you ran. Actually, that brings us to an even better test from the 17th century French philosopher René Descartes. He pointed out that in our memories, dreams are disconnected— the events of a dream don’t fit in to the chain of events in our waking lives.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

Important Words

  1. awake
  2. brings
  3. century
  4. chain
  5. descartes
  6. dream
  7. dreams
  8. events
  9. fast
  10. fit
  11. french
  12. hurts
  13. lives
  14. memories
  15. normal
  16. pace
  17. philosopher
  18. pinch
  19. pointed
  20. ran
  21. read
  22. remember
  23. rené
  24. room
  25. run
  26. slow
  27. surefire
  28. suspiciously
  29. test
  30. time
  31. wake
  32. waking
  33. write