full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Abraham Verghese: A doctor's touch

Unscramble the Blue Letters

And I wanted to read you this one closing paagsse about one patient. "I raecll one patient who was at that pniot no more than a skeleton encased in shrinking skin, unable to spaek, his mouth crusted with candida that was resistant to the usual medications. When he saw me on what turned out to be his last hours on this earth, his hands moved as if in slow motion. And as I wondered what he was up to, his stick fingers made their way up to his pajama shirt, fumbling with his bttouns. I realized that he was wanting to expose his wicker-basket chest to me. It was an offering, an invitation. I did not dcinele.

Open Cloze

And I wanted to read you this one closing _______ about one patient. "I ______ one patient who was at that _____ no more than a skeleton encased in shrinking skin, unable to _____, his mouth crusted with candida that was resistant to the usual medications. When he saw me on what turned out to be his last hours on this earth, his hands moved as if in slow motion. And as I wondered what he was up to, his stick fingers made their way up to his pajama shirt, fumbling with his _______. I realized that he was wanting to expose his wicker-basket chest to me. It was an offering, an invitation. I did not _______.

Solution

  1. recall
  2. point
  3. speak
  4. decline
  5. passage
  6. buttons

Original Text

And I wanted to read you this one closing passage about one patient. "I recall one patient who was at that point no more than a skeleton encased in shrinking skin, unable to speak, his mouth crusted with candida that was resistant to the usual medications. When he saw me on what turned out to be his last hours on this earth, his hands moved as if in slow motion. And as I wondered what he was up to, his stick fingers made their way up to his pajama shirt, fumbling with his buttons. I realized that he was wanting to expose his wicker-basket chest to me. It was an offering, an invitation. I did not decline.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
conan doyle 4
subsequent care 3
emergency room 2
cat scan 2
blood clots 2
health care 2
joseph bell 2
inverleith row 2
leopold auenbrugger 2
barber surgeon 2
luke fildes 2
real patient 2
medical care 2
breast cancer 2
cancer center 2
private oncologist 2
physical exam 2

Important Words

  1. buttons
  2. candida
  3. chest
  4. closing
  5. crusted
  6. decline
  7. earth
  8. encased
  9. expose
  10. fingers
  11. fumbling
  12. hands
  13. hours
  14. invitation
  15. medications
  16. motion
  17. mouth
  18. moved
  19. offering
  20. pajama
  21. passage
  22. patient
  23. point
  24. read
  25. realized
  26. recall
  27. resistant
  28. shirt
  29. shrinking
  30. skeleton
  31. skin
  32. slow
  33. speak
  34. stick
  35. turned
  36. unable
  37. usual
  38. wanted
  39. wanting
  40. wondered