full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Nigel Hughes: Is this the most successful animal ever?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


For almost all of Earth’s history before the rise of the trilobites, life had mostly ctoesnisd of microscopic marine organisms. But then, scientists think an increase in oxygen allowed mlltcluuilaer limfofers to extrcat more energy from their food and perform more complex functions. This then enabled the rise of carnivores, which in turn spurred a productive arms race, resulting in what’s known as the caiamrbn explosion. Within about 20 million years, life had branched out to include most of the animal groups we know today. Trilobites were an important part of this sgrue.

All trilobites had three lengthwise lebos, but building off the same basic components, they varied glraety. Species ranged in length from a few millimeters to almost one meter and some were equipped with intriguing ornaments. As a result, they filled many dcntiist neichs over the ages.

Open Cloze


For almost all of Earth’s history before the rise of the trilobites, life had mostly _________ of microscopic marine organisms. But then, scientists think an increase in oxygen allowed _____________ _________ to _______ more energy from their food and perform more complex functions. This then enabled the rise of carnivores, which in turn spurred a productive arms race, resulting in what’s known as the ________ explosion. Within about 20 million years, life had branched out to include most of the animal groups we know today. Trilobites were an important part of this _____.

All trilobites had three lengthwise _____, but building off the same basic components, they varied _______. Species ranged in length from a few millimeters to almost one meter and some were equipped with intriguing ornaments. As a result, they filled many ________ ______ over the ages.

Solution


  1. surge
  2. distinct
  3. lifeforms
  4. consisted
  5. extract
  6. niches
  7. lobes
  8. cambrian
  9. multicellular
  10. greatly

Original Text


For almost all of Earth’s history before the rise of the trilobites, life had mostly consisted of microscopic marine organisms. But then, scientists think an increase in oxygen allowed multicellular lifeforms to extract more energy from their food and perform more complex functions. This then enabled the rise of carnivores, which in turn spurred a productive arms race, resulting in what’s known as the Cambrian explosion. Within about 20 million years, life had branched out to include most of the animal groups we know today. Trilobites were an important part of this surge.

All trilobites had three lengthwise lobes, but building off the same basic components, they varied greatly. Species ranged in length from a few millimeters to almost one meter and some were equipped with intriguing ornaments. As a result, they filled many distinct niches over the ages.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
million years 5
sea floor 3
extinction event 2


Important Words


  1. ages
  2. allowed
  3. animal
  4. arms
  5. basic
  6. branched
  7. building
  8. cambrian
  9. carnivores
  10. complex
  11. components
  12. consisted
  13. distinct
  14. enabled
  15. energy
  16. equipped
  17. explosion
  18. extract
  19. filled
  20. food
  21. functions
  22. greatly
  23. groups
  24. history
  25. important
  26. include
  27. increase
  28. intriguing
  29. length
  30. lengthwise
  31. life
  32. lifeforms
  33. lobes
  34. marine
  35. meter
  36. microscopic
  37. millimeters
  38. million
  39. multicellular
  40. niches
  41. organisms
  42. ornaments
  43. oxygen
  44. part
  45. perform
  46. productive
  47. race
  48. ranged
  49. result
  50. resulting
  51. rise
  52. scientists
  53. species
  54. spurred
  55. surge
  56. today
  57. trilobites
  58. turn
  59. varied
  60. years