GENOCIDE: the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group.
MUNDANE: common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.
Ex. Mundane matters such as paying bills and shopping for food do not interest her.
ABOUT + INFINITIVE: very close to doing something.
Ex. The chorus is about to sing.
TO RECOVER: to get back something lost or spent.
Ex. We have to recover the stolen watch.
GRAVE: a hole in the ground for burying a dead body.
CIVILIAN: a person who is not a member of the police or the armed forces.
Ex. What is more, bombs have been directed at civilian targets, in flagrant violation of the international humanitarian law.
FORENSICS: the study or science of solving crimes by using scientific knowledge or methods.
TOWARDS: in the direction of.
Ex. The bus is heading towards town.
REMNANT: the part of something that is left when the other parts are gone.
TO FADE: to (cause to) lose colour, brightness, or strength gradually.
Ex. These dreams of yours fade like smoke.
EVIDENCE: material that is presented to a court of law to help find the truth about something.
OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND: The idea that something is easily forgotten or dismissed as unimportant if it is not in our direct view.
UNBIASED: fair; impartial.
Ex. By all accounts, Mr. Smith appears to be an unbiased expert in his field.
AWARENESS: knowledge that something exists, or understanding of a situation or subject at the present time based on information or experience.
Ex. To do this requires considerable awareness and commitment.
TO DECAY: to become decomposed; rot; to deteriorate.
Ex. The bodies buried in the fine ash slowly decayed.
Downloadable PDF version:EVERYDAY OBJECTS, TRAGIC HISTORIES – Ziyah Gafić – TED Talks – Vocabulary
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Fill in the gaps in the following sentences with the correct words from the box
1. These are simple objects: clocks, keys, ________________, glasses.
2. We are all familiar with these ________________, everyday objects.
3. The fact that some of the ________________ carried personal ________________ such as toothpaste and a toothbrush is a clear sign they had no idea what was about to happen to them.
4. These items have been recovered from numerous mass ________________ across my homeland, and as we speak, forensics are ________________bodies from newly discovered mass graves, 20 years after the war.
5. During the four years of conflict that devastated the Bosnian nation in the early ’90s, approximately 30,000 citizens, mainly ________________, went missing, presumed killed, and another 100,000 were killed during combat operations.
6. Most of them were killed either in the early days of the war or________________the end of the hostilities, when U.N. safe zones like Srebrenica fell into the hands of the Serb army.
7. The international criminal tribunal delivered a number of sentences for crimes against humanity and ________________.
8. Genocide is not only about the killing; it is about the denied ________________.
9. These items are ________________ from numerous mass graves, and the main goal of this collection of the items is a unique process of ________________ those who disappeared in the killings, the first act of genocide on European soil since the Holocaust.
10. Thousands of artifacts are packed in white plastic ________________ just like the ones you see on CSI. These objects are used as a forensic tool in visual identification of the victims, but they are also used as very valuable forensic ________________ in the ongoing war crimes trials.
11. Once the ________________ and doctors and lawyers are done with these objects, they become orphans of the narrative. Many of them get destroyed, believe it or not, or they get simply shelved, out of sight and out of ________________.
12. Once all the missing persons are identified, only ________________ bodies in their graves and these everyday items will remain.
Downloadable PDF version (without answers): EVERYDAY OBJECTS, TRAGIC HISTORIES – Ziyah Gafić – Fill in the gaps
Downloadable PDF version (answers):EVERYDAY OBJECTS, TRAGIC HISTORIES – Ziyah Gafić – TED Talks – Answers