It could never have happened without A.I.
Fill in the gaps in the article with the words in bold below. Make sure their grammatical form is correct.
work magic tribe (to) obscure withstand get off the ground
come about accelerate unthinkable heyday run out of steam
The release this week of “Now and Then” — the very last Beatles song — is a powerful demonstration of what artificial intelligence can do. But for anyone starting or running a business, it’s an even bigger lesson in the power of partnership. And how a strong enough partnership can last even beyond the grave.
Even though they disbanded more than 50 years ago, and John Lennon and George Harrison are both dead, the Beatles managed to do the 1. ………. and release a new song this week — with all of the Fab Four included. How this amazing feat 2. ………. is the subject of a short documentary narrated by Paul McCartney.
It turns out that at a time in his life when Lennon had stepped back from recording to raise his young son Sean Ono Lennon, he continued writing songs and making quick recordings of them on a household cassette recorder. But he died in 1980, when Sean was 5, and never got the chance to do anything with those songs.
In 1994, Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, gave those old tapes to the remaining three Beatles, and they went to work on them in 1995. Although they were able to finish two of Lennon’s other songs, “Now and Then” proved too challenging. The recording quality wasn’t great, and Lennon’s piano playing 3. …….. his voice. “In those days, of course, we didn’t have the technology to do the separation,” McCartney says in the documentary. Eventually, they gave up. “I think we kind of 4. ……… a bit, and time.”
More than 25 more years went by. (…) Then in 2021, Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame released the documentary Get Back, created from leftover footage of the Beatles during their famous Let It Be recording sessions. Jackson used advanced technology to separate voices and instruments on those old recordings and bring them up to today’s quality standards. McCartney realized that Jackson might be able to 5. ….. some similar …… on “Now and Then.” (…) And so, with Jackson’s assistance, they completed it, with Lennon’s vocals and piano and a guitar part that Harrison recorded when they tried it the first time in 1995. (…)
“Hey John! Would you like us to finish this song of yours?”
(…) For McCartney, Starr, and Harrison while he was alive, the answer was a definite yes. Although the Beatles had a famously acrimonious breakup, throughout most of their time as a band, those who knew them report that they formed a solid unit and relied on each other for support in 6. ………. the insane pressures brought on by their superstardom. That made them very close, a closeness that is evident in the short documentary about “Now and Then.” (…) So much great art, and so many great companies too, have grown from that kind of close partnership. (…) We may idolize loner entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, but the truth is that even the iconic Steve Jobs needed his partnership with Steve Wozniak to 7. ……. Apple …….. .
In my book Career Self-Care, I explore how the people you bring into your work and your life can 8. ………. your success, and how finding your 9. …… can make all the difference. And that’s exactly what the Beatles were in their 10. …… – a very small, very powerful, and extremely talented tribe. (…)
In order to read the whole article/check your answers, go to: https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/the-beatles-just-released-now-then-their-very-last-song-its-a-poignant-lesson-about-partnership
Key: 1.unthinkable; 2. came about; 3. obscured; 4. ran out of steam; 5. work magic; 6. withstanding; 7. get (Apple) off the ground; 8. accelerate; 9. tribe; 10. heyday
Glossary
- poignant – causing a feeling of sadness
- feat – something difficult needing a lot of skill, strength, courage, etc. to achieve it
- acrimonious – full of anger, arguments, and bad feeling
Practice makes perfect
Read: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-beatles-may-owe-some-of-their-success-to-pure-serendipity and decide if the sentences below are true or false:
1. The Beatles did split up early on.
2. The Beatles would not have made it if several things had gone differently.
3. Coincidence played a role in the Beatles’ success.
4. The best songs in the 2006 experiment rarely did well.
5. Jane Austen and John Keats were highly esteemed in their lifetime.
6. Literary fame depends solely on meeting thresholds for quality and quantity.
7. Once in the blue moon circumstances determine success or failure.
Key: 1.F; 2T; 3T; 4F; 5F; 6F; 7F
Fill in the sentence gaps with the words in bold below:
Make sure their grammatical form is correct.
run out of steam get sth off the ground unthinkable
come about tribe accelerate
1. We’re still trying to …… this project …… .
2. A ………. is a social group of people who live and work together.
3. Edward VIII had done the ……………. and abdicated the throne.
4. Some students …………. their high school career by 1-2 years early.
5. I decided to paint the hall ceiling but …………… halfway through.
6. Tell us more about how the project ………….. .
Key: 1.get off the ground; 2. tribe; 3. unthinkable; 4. accelerate; 6. ran out of steam; 6. came about
Explore more to create your own teaching-learning experience!
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