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

  1. possess
  2. airplane
  3. landing
  4. apollo
  5. eliminated
  6. assembly
  7. 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

  1. airplane
  2. alvin
  3. apollo
  4. assembly
  5. big
  6. boat
  7. called
  8. century
  9. cold
  10. contemporaries
  11. context
  12. crew
  13. east
  14. eliminated
  15. emotion
  16. eradicated
  17. faster
  18. flew
  19. history
  20. horse
  21. hour
  22. human
  23. jason
  24. landing
  25. line
  26. long
  27. middle
  28. miles
  29. moon
  30. occurred
  31. penicillin
  32. polio
  33. possess
  34. powers
  35. produced
  36. sail
  37. series
  38. smallpox
  39. strongest
  40. technological
  41. technology
  42. thrust
  43. time
  44. toffler
  45. transcendent
  46. triumphs
  47. tuberculosis
  48. vaccine
  49. victory
  50. war
  51. west
  52. years