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

  1. incurable
  2. begins
  3. disease
  4. spends
  5. rinka
  6. stephanie
  7. wanted
  8. ventilator
  9. 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

  1. air
  2. als
  3. asked
  4. beach
  5. beautiful
  6. begins
  7. breathe
  8. conversation
  9. couple
  10. day
  11. decades
  12. decides
  13. diagnoses
  14. disease
  15. doctor
  16. extract
  17. fact
  18. family
  19. fatal
  20. fifties
  21. flabbergasted
  22. friends
  23. gasping
  24. hospital
  25. incurable
  26. john
  27. joy
  28. late
  29. life
  30. longer
  31. lou
  32. love
  33. morning
  34. nurse
  35. pleasure
  36. put
  37. rinka
  38. runs
  39. sicker
  40. slur
  41. spend
  42. spends
  43. stephanie
  44. surely
  45. takes
  46. tells
  47. tests
  48. time
  49. ventilator
  50. wanted
  51. words
  52. years
  53. yesterday