TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Why do we cry? The three types of tears

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Our story is about a girl named Iris. Iris is very sensitive. (Bird cawing) So much that she is always in tears. She cries when she's sad, when she's happy, (Godzilla roars) and even tears up when things just get to her. She has special lacrimal glands to make new taers and special tubes, called lacrimal puncta, to drain old ones away. And she cries so much that she goes through ten ounces of tears per day, thirty gallons a year! In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that she's crying a little bit all the time. The basal tears that Iris constantly produces form a thin coatnig of three layers that cover her and keep dirt and dirbes away. Right next to Iris is the mucus layer, which keeps the whole thing fastened to her. On top of it is the aqueous layer, which keeps Iris haydertd, repels invasive bacteria, and protects her skin, or cornea, from damage. And, fnillay, there is the lpiid layer, an oily outer film that keeps the surface smooth for Iris to see through, and peernvts the other layers from evaporating. Normally, Iris goes about her day without really noticing the basal tears doing their thing. That's kind of their whole point. But one day, she meets a girl named Onion. Iris is imeietdlmay seimttn. ooinn looks gorgeous in her bright purple jacket, and she smells terrific. So, Iris invites Onion to her house for dnenir. But when she comes in and tkaes off her jacket, something terrible happens. You see, when Onion's jacket is removed, a chemical reaction happens, converting the sulfoxides that make her smell so great into sulfenic acid, which then becomes a natsy substance with a long name: syn-Propanethial S-oxide. The gas stings Iris, and suddenly, she can't help it, she starts weeping uncontrollably. These reflex tears are different from the basal tears that Iris is used to. Because they're designed to wash away hfaumrl substances, or particles, they're released in much legrar amounts, and their aqueous leayr contains more antibodies to stop any microorganisms that may be trying to get in, as well. Both Iris and Onion are devastated. They know they can't continue their relationship if Iris is going to hurt and cry every time Onion takes off her jkeact. So, they decide to break up. As Onion walks out the door, Iris stops crying. And immediately starts again. Only now, she's not cynirg reflex tears but emotional tears. When someone is either too sad or too happy, it feels like a loss of control, which can be dangerous. So, emotional tears are sent in to stabilize the mood as quickly as possible, along with other pscyaihl reactions, such as an increased haert rate and sweolr brnaitehg. But scientists still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are hulpfel. They may be a social mechanism to elicit sthypmay or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain hgiehr levels of stress hormones, such as ACTH and ephlnkaein, an endhripon and naautrl pain klelir. In this case, emotional tears are also directly calming Iris down, as well as signaling her emotional state to others. Sorry things didn't work out with Onion, Iris, but don't worry. As long as you have all three kidns of tears wnirokg to keep you balanced and healthy, it will get better. You'll see.

Open Cloze

Our story is about a girl named Iris. Iris is very sensitive. (Bird cawing) So much that she is always in tears. She cries when she's sad, when she's happy, (Godzilla roars) and even tears up when things just get to her. She has special lacrimal glands to make new _____ and special tubes, called lacrimal puncta, to drain old ones away. And she cries so much that she goes through ten ounces of tears per day, thirty gallons a year! In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that she's crying a little bit all the time. The basal tears that Iris constantly produces form a thin _______ of three layers that cover her and keep dirt and ______ away. Right next to Iris is the mucus layer, which keeps the whole thing fastened to her. On top of it is the aqueous layer, which keeps Iris ________, repels invasive bacteria, and protects her skin, or cornea, from damage. And, _______, there is the _____ layer, an oily outer film that keeps the surface smooth for Iris to see through, and ________ the other layers from evaporating. Normally, Iris goes about her day without really noticing the basal tears doing their thing. That's kind of their whole point. But one day, she meets a girl named Onion. Iris is ___________ _______. _____ looks gorgeous in her bright purple jacket, and she smells terrific. So, Iris invites Onion to her house for ______. But when she comes in and _____ off her jacket, something terrible happens. You see, when Onion's jacket is removed, a chemical reaction happens, converting the sulfoxides that make her smell so great into sulfenic acid, which then becomes a _____ substance with a long name: syn-Propanethial S-oxide. The gas stings Iris, and suddenly, she can't help it, she starts weeping uncontrollably. These reflex tears are different from the basal tears that Iris is used to. Because they're designed to wash away _______ substances, or particles, they're released in much ______ amounts, and their aqueous _____ contains more antibodies to stop any microorganisms that may be trying to get in, as well. Both Iris and Onion are devastated. They know they can't continue their relationship if Iris is going to hurt and cry every time Onion takes off her ______. So, they decide to break up. As Onion walks out the door, Iris stops crying. And immediately starts again. Only now, she's not ______ reflex tears but emotional tears. When someone is either too sad or too happy, it feels like a loss of control, which can be dangerous. So, emotional tears are sent in to stabilize the mood as quickly as possible, along with other ________ reactions, such as an increased _____ rate and ______ _________. But scientists still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are _______. They may be a social mechanism to elicit ________ or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain ______ levels of stress hormones, such as ACTH and __________, an _________ and _______ pain ______. In this case, emotional tears are also directly calming Iris down, as well as signaling her emotional state to others. Sorry things didn't work out with Onion, Iris, but don't worry. As long as you have all three _____ of tears _______ to keep you balanced and healthy, it will get better. You'll see.

Solution

natural
coating
enkephalin
larger
endorphin
takes
onion
lipid
higher
harmful
tears
hydrated
finally
layer
nasty
crying
sympathy
breathing
killer
kinds
immediately
slower
jacket
dinner
smitten
helpful
heart
prevents
working
debris
physical

Original Text

Our story is about a girl named Iris. Iris is very sensitive. (Bird cawing) So much that she is always in tears. She cries when she's sad, when she's happy, (Godzilla roars) and even tears up when things just get to her. She has special lacrimal glands to make new tears and special tubes, called lacrimal puncta, to drain old ones away. And she cries so much that she goes through ten ounces of tears per day, thirty gallons a year! In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that she's crying a little bit all the time. The basal tears that Iris constantly produces form a thin coating of three layers that cover her and keep dirt and debris away. Right next to Iris is the mucus layer, which keeps the whole thing fastened to her. On top of it is the aqueous layer, which keeps Iris hydrated, repels invasive bacteria, and protects her skin, or cornea, from damage. And, finally, there is the lipid layer, an oily outer film that keeps the surface smooth for Iris to see through, and prevents the other layers from evaporating. Normally, Iris goes about her day without really noticing the basal tears doing their thing. That's kind of their whole point. But one day, she meets a girl named Onion. Iris is immediately smitten. Onion looks gorgeous in her bright purple jacket, and she smells terrific. So, Iris invites Onion to her house for dinner. But when she comes in and takes off her jacket, something terrible happens. You see, when Onion's jacket is removed, a chemical reaction happens, converting the sulfoxides that make her smell so great into sulfenic acid, which then becomes a nasty substance with a long name: syn-Propanethial S-oxide. The gas stings Iris, and suddenly, she can't help it, she starts weeping uncontrollably. These reflex tears are different from the basal tears that Iris is used to. Because they're designed to wash away harmful substances, or particles, they're released in much larger amounts, and their aqueous layer contains more antibodies to stop any microorganisms that may be trying to get in, as well. Both Iris and Onion are devastated. They know they can't continue their relationship if Iris is going to hurt and cry every time Onion takes off her jacket. So, they decide to break up. As Onion walks out the door, Iris stops crying. And immediately starts again. Only now, she's not crying reflex tears but emotional tears. When someone is either too sad or too happy, it feels like a loss of control, which can be dangerous. So, emotional tears are sent in to stabilize the mood as quickly as possible, along with other physical reactions, such as an increased heart rate and slower breathing. But scientists still aren't sure exactly how or why the tears themselves are helpful. They may be a social mechanism to elicit sympathy or show submission. But some studies have also found that emotional tears contain higher levels of stress hormones, such as ACTH and enkephalin, an endorphin and natural pain killer. In this case, emotional tears are also directly calming Iris down, as well as signaling her emotional state to others. Sorry things didn't work out with Onion, Iris, but don't worry. As long as you have all three kinds of tears working to keep you balanced and healthy, it will get better. You'll see.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
emotional tears	4
basal tears	3
girl named	2
reflex tears	2

Important Words

acid
acth
amounts
antibodies
aqueous
bacteria
balanced
basal
bird
bit
break
breathing
bright
called
calming
case
cawing
chemical
closely
coating
constantly
continue
control
converting
cornea
cover
cries
cry
crying
damage
dangerous
day
debris
decide
designed
devastated
dinner
dirt
door
drain
elicit
emotional
endorphin
enkephalin
evaporating
fact
fastened
feels
film
finally
form
gallons
gas
girl
glands
godzilla
gorgeous
great
happy
harmful
healthy
heart
helpful
higher
hormones
house
hurt
hydrated
immediately
increased
invasive
invites
iris
jacket
killer
kind
kinds
lacrimal
larger
layer
layers
levels
lipid
long
loss
mechanism
meets
microorganisms
mood
mucus
named
nasty
natural
noticing
oily
onion
ounces
outer
pain
particles
physical
point
prevents
produces
protects
puncta
purple
quickly
rate
reaction
reactions
reflex
relationship
released
removed
repels
roars
sad
scientists
sensitive
show
signaling
skin
slower
smell
smells
smitten
smooth
social
special
stabilize
starts
state
stings
stop
stops
story
stress
studies
submission
substance
substances
suddenly
sulfenic
sulfoxides
surface
sympathy
takes
tears
ten
terrible
terrific
thin
time
top
tubes
uncontrollably
walks
wash
weeping
work
working
worry