full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Jason Pontin: Can technology solve our big problems?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Jason Pontin: To contemporaries, Apollo wasn't only a victory of West over East in the Cold War. At the time, the ssotenrgt emotion was of wonder at the transcendent powers of technology. They went because it was a big thing to do. lnanidg on the moon occurred in the context of a long series of technological triumphs. The first half of the 20th century produced the ambessly line and the alpinrae, penicillin and a vaccine for tuberculosis. In the middle years of the century, polio was eradicated and smallpox emlnieitad. Technology itself seemed to pesssos what Alvin Toffler in 1970 called "accelerative thrust." For most of human history, we could go no faster than a horse or a boat with a sail, but in 1969, the crew of allopo 10 flew at 25,000 miles an hour.
Open Cloze
Jason Pontin: To contemporaries, Apollo wasn't only a victory of West over East in the Cold War. At the time, the _________ emotion was of wonder at the transcendent powers of technology. They went because it was a big thing to do. _______ on the moon occurred in the context of a long series of technological triumphs. The first half of the 20th century produced the ________ line and the ________, penicillin and a vaccine for tuberculosis. In the middle years of the century, polio was eradicated and smallpox __________. Technology itself seemed to _______ what Alvin Toffler in 1970 called "accelerative thrust." For most of human history, we could go no faster than a horse or a boat with a sail, but in 1969, the crew of ______ 10 flew at 25,000 miles an hour.
Solution
- possess
- airplane
- landing
- apollo
- eliminated
- assembly
- strongest
Original Text
Jason Pontin: To contemporaries, Apollo wasn't only a victory of West over East in the Cold War. At the time, the strongest emotion was of wonder at the transcendent powers of technology. They went because it was a big thing to do. Landing on the moon occurred in the context of a long series of technological triumphs. The first half of the 20th century produced the assembly line and the airplane, penicillin and a vaccine for tuberculosis. In the middle years of the century, polio was eradicated and smallpox eliminated. Technology itself seemed to possess what Alvin Toffler in 1970 called "accelerative thrust." For most of human history, we could go no faster than a horse or a boat with a sail, but in 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 flew at 25,000 miles an hour.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
big problems |
11 |
solve big |
8 |
silicon valley |
3 |
apollo program |
2 |
venture capitalists |
2 |
international treaties |
2 |
ngrams of length 3
collocation |
frequency |
solve big problems |
7 |
Important Words
- airplane
- alvin
- apollo
- assembly
- big
- boat
- called
- century
- cold
- contemporaries
- context
- crew
- east
- eliminated
- emotion
- eradicated
- faster
- flew
- history
- horse
- hour
- human
- jason
- landing
- line
- long
- middle
- miles
- moon
- occurred
- penicillin
- polio
- possess
- powers
- produced
- sail
- series
- smallpox
- strongest
- technological
- technology
- thrust
- time
- toffler
- transcendent
- triumphs
- tuberculosis
- vaccine
- victory
- war
- west
- years