full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Maryn McKenna: What do we do when antibiotics don't work any more?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

This is my great uncle, my father's father's younger brother. His name was Joe McKenna. He was a young husband and a semi-pro basketball player and a fireman in New York City. Family history says he loved being a feiarmn, and so in 1938, on one of his days off, he elected to hang out at the fsuihoree. To make himself useful that day, he started polishing all the brass, the riignlas on the fire truck, the fittings on the walls, and one of the fire hose nozzles, a giant, heavy piece of metal, tpelpod off a sehlf and hit him. A few days later, his shoulder started to hurt. Two days after that, he spiked a fever. The fveer climbed and ceilmbd. His wife was taking care of him, but nothing she did made a difference, and when they got the local doctor in, nothing he did mattered either.

Open Cloze

This is my great uncle, my father's father's younger brother. His name was Joe McKenna. He was a young husband and a semi-pro basketball player and a fireman in New York City. Family history says he loved being a _______, and so in 1938, on one of his days off, he elected to hang out at the _________. To make himself useful that day, he started polishing all the brass, the ________ on the fire truck, the fittings on the walls, and one of the fire hose nozzles, a giant, heavy piece of metal, _______ off a _____ and hit him. A few days later, his shoulder started to hurt. Two days after that, he spiked a fever. The _____ climbed and _______. His wife was taking care of him, but nothing she did made a difference, and when they got the local doctor in, nothing he did mattered either.

Solution

  1. toppled
  2. climbed
  3. shelf
  4. railings
  5. fever
  6. fireman
  7. firehouse

Original Text

This is my great uncle, my father's father's younger brother. His name was Joe McKenna. He was a young husband and a semi-pro basketball player and a fireman in New York City. Family history says he loved being a fireman, and so in 1938, on one of his days off, he elected to hang out at the firehouse. To make himself useful that day, he started polishing all the brass, the railings on the fire truck, the fittings on the walls, and one of the fire hose nozzles, a giant, heavy piece of metal, toppled off a shelf and hit him. A few days later, his shoulder started to hurt. Two days after that, he spiked a fever. The fever climbed and climbed. His wife was taking care of him, but nothing she did made a difference, and when they got the local doctor in, nothing he did mattered either.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
great uncle 3
antibiotic resistance 3
worldwide toll 3
uncle died 2
making antibiotics 2
infection resistant 2
united states 2
social norms 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
great uncle died 2

Important Words

  1. basketball
  2. brass
  3. brother
  4. care
  5. city
  6. climbed
  7. day
  8. days
  9. difference
  10. doctor
  11. elected
  12. family
  13. fever
  14. fire
  15. firehouse
  16. fireman
  17. fittings
  18. giant
  19. great
  20. hang
  21. heavy
  22. history
  23. hit
  24. hose
  25. hurt
  26. husband
  27. joe
  28. local
  29. loved
  30. mattered
  31. mckenna
  32. metal
  33. nozzles
  34. piece
  35. player
  36. polishing
  37. railings
  38. shelf
  39. shoulder
  40. spiked
  41. started
  42. toppled
  43. truck
  44. uncle
  45. walls
  46. wife
  47. york
  48. young
  49. younger