Is This the Time of Monsters — or Miracles? | Angus Hervey | TED – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary
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Interactive Transcript & Highlights for Dictation
1.I'm a solutions journalist
2.For over a decade, I've been reporting on stories of progress
3.But in the last few months, I've started to think that maybe I was wrong
4.Almost a century ago, the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, thrown into prison by Mussolini, wrote, "The old world is dying, and the new world to be born: now is the time of monsters.” Those words are haunting
5.It feels like he could be speaking to us today
💡 Tap the highlighted words to see definitions and examples
Key Vocabulary (CEFR B2)
struggles
A2A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task.
Example:
"and the new world struggles to be born:"
venezuela
A2A A2-level word commonly used in this context.
Example:
"Sudan, famine, DRC, rebels, Yemen, Venezuela, Turkey, Hungary,"
landmine-free
B1A B1-level word commonly used in this context.
Example:
"is on track to be landmine-free within the next few years?"
overfishing
B1To fish excessively, often substantially reducing over several years the supply of one or more species of fish in an area.
Example:
"Or that overfishing is declining in the Mediterranean?"
mediterranean
B1A B1-level word commonly used in this context.
Example:
"Or that overfishing is declining in the Mediterranean?"
long-awaited
B1Having been awaited for a long time
Example:
"Is this the long-awaited fall from grace?"
algorithms
A2A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
Example:
"Algorithms breed paranoia,"
manufacturing
B1To make things, usually on a large scale, with tools and either physical labor or machinery.
Example:
"manufacturing division,"
distinguish
B1To recognize someone or something as different from others based on its characteristics.
Example:
"an era where people are unable to distinguish"
planetary
A2A planetary nebula.
Example:
"planetary crises, firestorms in our cities,"
| Word | CEFR | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| struggles | A2 | A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task. |
| venezuela | A2 | A A2-level word commonly used in this context. |
| landmine-free | B1 | A B1-level word commonly used in this context. |
| overfishing | B1 | To fish excessively, often substantially reducing over several years the supply of one or more species of fish in an area. |
| mediterranean | B1 | A B1-level word commonly used in this context. |
| long-awaited | B1 | Having been awaited for a long time |
| algorithms | A2 | A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps. |
| manufacturing | B1 | To make things, usually on a large scale, with tools and either physical labor or machinery. |
| distinguish | B1 | To recognize someone or something as different from others based on its characteristics. |
| planetary | A2 | A planetary nebula. |
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