Read the text below and then listen to the TED talk to hear the missing words. (Write the exact word/s that you hear.) Complete the text below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS OR A NUMBER.
The speaker tells us about death and architecture. She says that a hundred years ago, we tended to die of infectious diseases like pneumonia and that, if they could take us away (1) __________. We tended to die at home, in our own beds, looked after by family, although that was partly because many people lacked (2) __________ medical care.
By the 20th century a lot of things had changed. We (3) __________ like penicillin so that infectious diseases could be treated. New medical technologies like x-ray machines were invented. And because they were so (4) __________ and expensive we needed large, centralized buildings to house them and these buildings became our modern hospitals.
After the Second World War, many countries set up universal healthcare systems so that everyone (5) __________ treatment could get it. The result was that lifespans extended from about 45 at the start of the century to almost double that today. The 20th century was this time of huge optimism about what science could offer, but with all of the focus on life, death was forgotten, even as our approach to death changed dramatically.
Now pause the video while you check your answers.
Then read questions 6 – 10 below the video.
TRUE or FALSE
6. The speaker is a doctor.
7. Hospital architecture has a bad reputation.
8. L’Ospedale degli Innocenti was built in 1940.
9. We don’t talk about death because we find the subject to be uncomfortable.
10. The first crematorium in the UK was built in Woking in the 1870s.
Now check your answers below.
ANSWERS
1.quite quickly, 2. access to, 3.developed new medicines, 4.big, 5. who needed,
6. F, 7. T, 8.F, 9.T, 10.T.