full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity
Unscramble the Blue Letters
This year we celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, and it was 150 yaers ago, when witnirg about evolution, that Darwin illustrated, I think, a truth about the human character. To paraphrase: It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most illentneigt that survives; it is the one that is most atbaapdle to change. Conflict is the genesis of creation. From Darwin's work, amongst others, we can recognize that the human ability to survive and flourish is driven by the struggle of the human spirit through conflict into taiormftorsnan. So, again, transformation, adaptation, is our greatest hamun skill. And, perhaps, until we're tested, we don't know what we're made of. Maybe that's what adversity gives us: a snsee of self, a sense of our own power. So, we can give ourselves a gift. We can re-imagine ardvtesiy as something more than just tough times. Maybe we can see it as change. Adversity is just change that we haven't adapted ourselves to yet.
Open Cloze
This year we celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, and it was 150 _____ ago, when _______ about evolution, that Darwin illustrated, I think, a truth about the human character. To paraphrase: It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most ___________ that survives; it is the one that is most _________ to change. Conflict is the genesis of creation. From Darwin's work, amongst others, we can recognize that the human ability to survive and flourish is driven by the struggle of the human spirit through conflict into ______________. So, again, transformation, adaptation, is our greatest _____ skill. And, perhaps, until we're tested, we don't know what we're made of. Maybe that's what adversity gives us: a _____ of self, a sense of our own power. So, we can give ourselves a gift. We can re-imagine _________ as something more than just tough times. Maybe we can see it as change. Adversity is just change that we haven't adapted ourselves to yet.
Solution
- transformation
- intelligent
- writing
- adversity
- human
- years
- sense
- adaptable
Original Text
This year we celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, and it was 150 years ago, when writing about evolution, that Darwin illustrated, I think, a truth about the human character. To paraphrase: It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most intelligent that survives; it is the one that is most adaptable to change. Conflict is the genesis of creation. From Darwin's work, amongst others, we can recognize that the human ability to survive and flourish is driven by the struggle of the human spirit through conflict into transformation. So, again, transformation, adaptation, is our greatest human skill. And, perhaps, until we're tested, we don't know what we're made of. Maybe that's what adversity gives us: a sense of self, a sense of our own power. So, we can give ourselves a gift. We can re-imagine adversity as something more than just tough times. Maybe we can see it as change. Adversity is just change that we haven't adapted ourselves to yet.
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human spirit |
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Important Words
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- survive
- survives
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- year
- years