full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Charles Anderson: Dragonflies that fly across oceans

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So, next thing I did is I got on the phone. Maldives is a long aaehcliprgo. It stretches about 500 miles, of course it's India here. I got on the phone and eailmed to fedinrs and claolguees. When do you see the dragonflies appear? And pretty soon, a picture started emerging. In Bangalore, a colleague there sent me information for three years, argaeve, 24th of September, so late September. Down in Trivandrum, a bit later. Far north of Maldives, a bit later. Then Malé, then further south. And then the southernmost Maldives. It's pretty obvious, they're coming from India. But they are coming 400 miles across the ocean, against the wind. How on etarh are they doing that? I didn't know.

Open Cloze


So, next thing I did is I got on the phone. Maldives is a long ___________. It stretches about 500 miles, of course it's India here. I got on the phone and _______ to _______ and __________. When do you see the dragonflies appear? And pretty soon, a picture started emerging. In Bangalore, a colleague there sent me information for three years, _______, 24th of September, so late September. Down in Trivandrum, a bit later. Far north of Maldives, a bit later. Then Malé, then further south. And then the southernmost Maldives. It's pretty obvious, they're coming from India. But they are coming 400 miles across the ocean, against the wind. How on _____ are they doing that? I didn't know.

Solution


  1. average
  2. friends
  3. earth
  4. colleagues
  5. emailed
  6. archipelago

Original Text


So, next thing I did is I got on the phone. Maldives is a long archipelago. It stretches about 500 miles, of course it's India here. I got on the phone and emailed to friends and colleagues. When do you see the dragonflies appear? And pretty soon, a picture started emerging. In Bangalore, a colleague there sent me information for three years, average, 24th of September, so late September. Down in Trivandrum, a bit later. Far north of Maldives, a bit later. Then Malé, then further south. And then the southernmost Maldives. It's pretty obvious, they're coming from India. But they are coming 400 miles across the ocean, against the wind. How on Earth are they doing that? I didn't know.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
fresh water 8
northeast monsoon 6
southwest monsoon 5
blue whales 3
east africa 3
amur falcon 3
monsoon rain 2
coral reefs 2
sand banks 2
sea level 2
bit curious 2
rigorous scientific 2
front moves 2
seasonal rains 2
monsoon rains 2
seasonal rain 2
rains broke 2
summer rains 2
automatically carried 2
indian ocean 2
moves south 2


Important Words


  1. archipelago
  2. average
  3. bangalore
  4. bit
  5. colleague
  6. colleagues
  7. coming
  8. dragonflies
  9. earth
  10. emailed
  11. emerging
  12. friends
  13. india
  14. information
  15. late
  16. long
  17. maldives
  18. malé
  19. miles
  20. north
  21. obvious
  22. ocean
  23. phone
  24. picture
  25. pretty
  26. september
  27. south
  28. southernmost
  29. started
  30. stretches
  31. trivandrum
  32. wind
  33. years