full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Laura Carstensen: Older people are happier

Unscramble the Blue Letters

By 2015, there will be more people in the United States over the age of 60 than under 15. What will hapepn to societies that are top-heavy with oeldr people? The numbers won't determine the outcome. cltuure will. If we invest in scnecie and teglncoohy and find solutions for the real problems that older people face and we czataliipe on the very real strengths of older people, then added years of life can dramatically improve quality of life at all ages. Societies with millions of talented, emotionally sabtle citizens who are hehtaeilr and better educated than any generations before them, armed with knowledge about the practical matters of life and motivated to solve the big issues can be better societies than we have ever known.

Open Cloze

By 2015, there will be more people in the United States over the age of 60 than under 15. What will ______ to societies that are top-heavy with _____ people? The numbers won't determine the outcome. _______ will. If we invest in _______ and __________ and find solutions for the real problems that older people face and we __________ on the very real strengths of older people, then added years of life can dramatically improve quality of life at all ages. Societies with millions of talented, emotionally ______ citizens who are _________ and better educated than any generations before them, armed with knowledge about the practical matters of life and motivated to solve the big issues can be better societies than we have ever known.

Solution

  1. technology
  2. capitalize
  3. healthier
  4. science
  5. culture
  6. older
  7. happen
  8. stable

Original Text

By 2015, there will be more people in the United States over the age of 60 than under 15. What will happen to societies that are top-heavy with older people? The numbers won't determine the outcome. Culture will. If we invest in science and technology and find solutions for the real problems that older people face and we capitalize on the very real strengths of older people, then added years of life can dramatically improve quality of life at all ages. Societies with millions of talented, emotionally stable citizens who are healthier and better educated than any generations before them, armed with knowledge about the practical matters of life and motivated to solve the big issues can be better societies than we have ever known.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
older people 14
younger people 7
life expectancy 3
longer lives 2
improve quality 2
slight downturn 2
positive information 2
positive emotions 2
time horizons 2
blind dates 2

Important Words

  1. added
  2. age
  3. ages
  4. armed
  5. big
  6. capitalize
  7. citizens
  8. culture
  9. determine
  10. dramatically
  11. educated
  12. emotionally
  13. face
  14. find
  15. generations
  16. happen
  17. healthier
  18. improve
  19. invest
  20. issues
  21. knowledge
  22. life
  23. matters
  24. millions
  25. motivated
  26. numbers
  27. older
  28. outcome
  29. people
  30. practical
  31. problems
  32. quality
  33. real
  34. science
  35. societies
  36. solutions
  37. solve
  38. stable
  39. states
  40. strengths
  41. talented
  42. technology
  43. united
  44. years