full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jared Diamond: How societies can grow old better

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The other set of reasons for viiatraon in the treatment of the elderly is the society's curaltul values. For example, there's particular emphasis on respect for the elderly in East Asia, associated with Confucius' doctrine of filial piety, which means obedience, rescept and support for elderly parents. Cultural values that emphasize respect for older ploepe contrast with the low status of the erledly in the U.S. Older Americans are at a big disadvantage in job applications. They're at a big disadvantage in hospitals. Our hospitals have an explicit policy called age-based allocation of healthcare resources. That sinister expression means that if hospital resources are lieimtd, for example if only one donor heart becomes available for transplant, or if a surgeon has time to operate on only a certain number of patients, American hlsitopas have an explicit policy of giving preference to younger patients over older patients on the gdnruos that younger ptiatens are considered more valuable to society because they have more years of life ahead of them, even though the younger patients have fewer yaers of valualbe life experience behind them. There are several reasons for this low status of the elderly in the U.S. One is our Protestant work ethic which places high value on work, so older people who are no longer working aren't rsepeetcd. Another reason is our American easmhips on the virtues of self-reliance and independence, so we instinctively look down on older people who are no longer self-reliant and indepndeent. Still a third reason is our American cult of yuoth, which shows up even in our advertisements. Ads for Coca-Cola and beer always depict smiling young people, even though old as well as young people buy and drink Coca-Cola and beer. Just think, what's the last time you saw a Coke or beer ad depicting smiling people 85 years old? Never. Instead, the only amciearn ads featuring white-haired old people are ads for rteiernmet homes and pension pnnalnig.

Open Cloze

The other set of reasons for _________ in the treatment of the elderly is the society's ________ values. For example, there's particular emphasis on respect for the elderly in East Asia, associated with Confucius' doctrine of filial piety, which means obedience, _______ and support for elderly parents. Cultural values that emphasize respect for older ______ contrast with the low status of the _______ in the U.S. Older Americans are at a big disadvantage in job applications. They're at a big disadvantage in hospitals. Our hospitals have an explicit policy called age-based allocation of healthcare resources. That sinister expression means that if hospital resources are _______, for example if only one donor heart becomes available for transplant, or if a surgeon has time to operate on only a certain number of patients, American _________ have an explicit policy of giving preference to younger patients over older patients on the _______ that younger ________ are considered more valuable to society because they have more years of life ahead of them, even though the younger patients have fewer _____ of ________ life experience behind them. There are several reasons for this low status of the elderly in the U.S. One is our Protestant work ethic which places high value on work, so older people who are no longer working aren't _________. Another reason is our American ________ on the virtues of self-reliance and independence, so we instinctively look down on older people who are no longer self-reliant and ___________. Still a third reason is our American cult of _____, which shows up even in our advertisements. Ads for Coca-Cola and beer always depict smiling young people, even though old as well as young people buy and drink Coca-Cola and beer. Just think, what's the last time you saw a Coke or beer ad depicting smiling people 85 years old? Never. Instead, the only ________ ads featuring white-haired old people are ads for __________ homes and pension ________.

Solution

  1. people
  2. planning
  3. respected
  4. limited
  5. hospitals
  6. cultural
  7. independent
  8. patients
  9. american
  10. emphasis
  11. valuable
  12. years
  13. youth
  14. respect
  15. elderly
  16. retirement
  17. grounds
  18. variation

Original Text

The other set of reasons for variation in the treatment of the elderly is the society's cultural values. For example, there's particular emphasis on respect for the elderly in East Asia, associated with Confucius' doctrine of filial piety, which means obedience, respect and support for elderly parents. Cultural values that emphasize respect for older people contrast with the low status of the elderly in the U.S. Older Americans are at a big disadvantage in job applications. They're at a big disadvantage in hospitals. Our hospitals have an explicit policy called age-based allocation of healthcare resources. That sinister expression means that if hospital resources are limited, for example if only one donor heart becomes available for transplant, or if a surgeon has time to operate on only a certain number of patients, American hospitals have an explicit policy of giving preference to younger patients over older patients on the grounds that younger patients are considered more valuable to society because they have more years of life ahead of them, even though the younger patients have fewer years of valuable life experience behind them. There are several reasons for this low status of the elderly in the U.S. One is our Protestant work ethic which places high value on work, so older people who are no longer working aren't respected. Another reason is our American emphasis on the virtues of self-reliance and independence, so we instinctively look down on older people who are no longer self-reliant and independent. Still a third reason is our American cult of youth, which shows up even in our advertisements. Ads for Coca-Cola and beer always depict smiling young people, even though old as well as young people buy and drink Coca-Cola and beer. Just think, what's the last time you saw a Coke or beer ad depicting smiling people 85 years old? Never. Instead, the only American ads featuring white-haired old people are ads for retirement homes and pension planning.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
older people 26
traditional societies 18
tribal societies 4
younger people 4
big societies 3
younger patients 3
lifelong friends 2
cultural values 2
older americans 2
big disadvantage 2
explicit policy 2
young people 2
technological change 2
tv set 2
dropping atomic 2
atomic bombs 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
dropping atomic bombs 2

Important Words

  1. ad
  2. ads
  3. advertisements
  4. allocation
  5. american
  6. americans
  7. applications
  8. asia
  9. beer
  10. big
  11. buy
  12. called
  13. coke
  14. considered
  15. contrast
  16. cult
  17. cultural
  18. depict
  19. depicting
  20. disadvantage
  21. doctrine
  22. donor
  23. drink
  24. east
  25. elderly
  26. emphasis
  27. emphasize
  28. ethic
  29. experience
  30. explicit
  31. expression
  32. featuring
  33. filial
  34. giving
  35. grounds
  36. healthcare
  37. heart
  38. high
  39. homes
  40. hospital
  41. hospitals
  42. independence
  43. independent
  44. instinctively
  45. job
  46. life
  47. limited
  48. longer
  49. means
  50. number
  51. obedience
  52. older
  53. operate
  54. parents
  55. patients
  56. pension
  57. people
  58. piety
  59. places
  60. planning
  61. policy
  62. preference
  63. protestant
  64. reason
  65. reasons
  66. resources
  67. respect
  68. respected
  69. retirement
  70. set
  71. shows
  72. sinister
  73. smiling
  74. society
  75. status
  76. support
  77. surgeon
  78. time
  79. transplant
  80. treatment
  81. valuable
  82. values
  83. variation
  84. virtues
  85. work
  86. working
  87. years
  88. young
  89. younger
  90. youth