full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Shankar Vedantam: You don't actually know what your future self wants
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Fast-forward a couple of decades. In her late fifties, Stephanie bngeis to slur her words. She goes to see a doctor, who runs some tests, and he diagnoses her with ALS, Lou Gehrig's deasise. He tells her it's fatal. It's irbaucnle. And he tells her that a day is going to come when she is no longer able to breathe on her own. Stephanie, being Stephanie, decides to extract as much joy and pleasure from life as she can, she spdens time with fedrnis and family. As she gets sicker, she and John spend some time on a beautiful beach that they both love. But there comes a day when Stephanie, in fact, is no longer able to breathe. She's gasping for air, and John takes her to the hospital. And a nurse at the hospital asked seiahtnpe, "Mrs. Rinka, would you like us to put you on a vtenolaitr?" And Stephanie says yes. John is flabbergasted. They've been having this conversation for 30 years. Surely that's not what Stephanie wants. He doesn't say anything. The next morning, he says, "Steph, when the nurse asked you yesterday if you watend to go on a ventilator, and you said yes, is that really what you want?" And Stephanie rkina said yes.
Open Cloze
Fast-forward a couple of decades. In her late fifties, Stephanie ______ to slur her words. She goes to see a doctor, who runs some tests, and he diagnoses her with ALS, Lou Gehrig's _______. He tells her it's fatal. It's _________. And he tells her that a day is going to come when she is no longer able to breathe on her own. Stephanie, being Stephanie, decides to extract as much joy and pleasure from life as she can, she ______ time with _______ and family. As she gets sicker, she and John spend some time on a beautiful beach that they both love. But there comes a day when Stephanie, in fact, is no longer able to breathe. She's gasping for air, and John takes her to the hospital. And a nurse at the hospital asked _________, "Mrs. Rinka, would you like us to put you on a __________?" And Stephanie says yes. John is flabbergasted. They've been having this conversation for 30 years. Surely that's not what Stephanie wants. He doesn't say anything. The next morning, he says, "Steph, when the nurse asked you yesterday if you ______ to go on a ventilator, and you said yes, is that really what you want?" And Stephanie _____ said yes.
Solution
- incurable
- begins
- disease
- spends
- rinka
- stephanie
- wanted
- ventilator
- friends
Original Text
Fast-forward a couple of decades. In her late fifties, Stephanie begins to slur her words. She goes to see a doctor, who runs some tests, and he diagnoses her with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. He tells her it's fatal. It's incurable. And he tells her that a day is going to come when she is no longer able to breathe on her own. Stephanie, being Stephanie, decides to extract as much joy and pleasure from life as she can, she spends time with friends and family. As she gets sicker, she and John spend some time on a beautiful beach that they both love. But there comes a day when Stephanie, in fact, is no longer able to breathe. She's gasping for air, and John takes her to the hospital. And a nurse at the hospital asked Stephanie, "Mrs. Rinka, would you like us to put you on a ventilator?" And Stephanie says yes. John is flabbergasted. They've been having this conversation for 30 years. Surely that's not what Stephanie wants. He doesn't say anything. The next morning, he says, "Steph, when the nurse asked you yesterday if you wanted to go on a ventilator, and you said yes, is that really what you want?" And Stephanie Rinka said yes.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
profound consequences |
2 |
stephanie rinka |
2 |
ethical problem |
2 |
spend time |
2 |
Important Words
- air
- als
- asked
- beach
- beautiful
- begins
- breathe
- conversation
- couple
- day
- decades
- decides
- diagnoses
- disease
- doctor
- extract
- fact
- family
- fatal
- fifties
- flabbergasted
- friends
- gasping
- hospital
- incurable
- john
- joy
- late
- life
- longer
- lou
- love
- morning
- nurse
- pleasure
- put
- rinka
- runs
- sicker
- slur
- spend
- spends
- stephanie
- surely
- takes
- tells
- tests
- time
- ventilator
- wanted
- words
- years
- yesterday