full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jacques S. Abramowicz: How does ultrasound work?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

First, the skin is covered with conductive gel. Since sound waves lose speed and clarity when traveling through air, this gooey substance ensures an airtight seal between the body and the wand emitting ultrasound waves. Then the machine operator begins sending ultrasound bemas into the body. The waves pass through lidquis like urine, blood, and amniotic fiuld without creating any echoes. But when a wave encounters a solid structure, it bcenous back. This echo is rendered as a dot on the imaging screen. oetbcjs like benos reflect the most waves, appearing as tthigly packed dots frnoimg bgrhit white shapes. Less dense objects appear in fainter shades of gray, slowly creating an imgae of the fetus’s internal organs.

Open Cloze

First, the skin is covered with conductive gel. Since sound waves lose speed and clarity when traveling through air, this gooey substance ensures an airtight seal between the body and the wand emitting ultrasound waves. Then the machine operator begins sending ultrasound _____ into the body. The waves pass through _______ like urine, blood, and amniotic _____ without creating any echoes. But when a wave encounters a solid structure, it _______ back. This echo is rendered as a dot on the imaging screen. _______ like _____ reflect the most waves, appearing as _______ packed dots _______ ______ white shapes. Less dense objects appear in fainter shades of gray, slowly creating an _____ of the fetus’s internal organs.

Solution

  1. bounces
  2. objects
  3. beams
  4. tightly
  5. bright
  6. liquids
  7. bones
  8. fluid
  9. image
  10. forming

Original Text

First, the skin is covered with conductive gel. Since sound waves lose speed and clarity when traveling through air, this gooey substance ensures an airtight seal between the body and the wand emitting ultrasound waves. Then the machine operator begins sending ultrasound beams into the body. The waves pass through liquids like urine, blood, and amniotic fluid without creating any echoes. But when a wave encounters a solid structure, it bounces back. This echo is rendered as a dot on the imaging screen. Objects like bones reflect the most waves, appearing as tightly packed dots forming bright white shapes. Less dense objects appear in fainter shades of gray, slowly creating an image of the fetus’s internal organs.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
high frequency 2
ultrasound beams 2
sound waves 2
tightly packed 2
ultrasound waves 2
ultrasound machines 2
medical ultrasound 2

Important Words

  1. air
  2. airtight
  3. amniotic
  4. appearing
  5. beams
  6. begins
  7. blood
  8. body
  9. bones
  10. bounces
  11. bright
  12. clarity
  13. conductive
  14. covered
  15. creating
  16. dense
  17. dot
  18. dots
  19. echo
  20. echoes
  21. emitting
  22. encounters
  23. ensures
  24. fainter
  25. fluid
  26. forming
  27. gel
  28. gooey
  29. gray
  30. image
  31. imaging
  32. internal
  33. liquids
  34. lose
  35. machine
  36. objects
  37. operator
  38. organs
  39. packed
  40. pass
  41. reflect
  42. rendered
  43. screen
  44. seal
  45. sending
  46. shades
  47. shapes
  48. skin
  49. slowly
  50. solid
  51. sound
  52. speed
  53. structure
  54. substance
  55. tightly
  56. traveling
  57. ultrasound
  58. urine
  59. wand
  60. wave
  61. waves
  62. white