full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Anote Tong: My country will be underwater soon -- unless we work together

Unscramble the Blue Letters


CA: And then, I think the conurty suffered its first cynlcoe, and this is connected, yes? What happened here?

AT: Well, we're on the equator, and I'm sure many of you understand that when you're on the equator, it's supposed to be in the dudrolms. We're not supposed to get the cyclones. We create them, and then we send them either north or stouh.

(Laughter)

But they aren't soseppud to come back. But for the first time, at the beginning of this year, the Cyclone Pam, which destroyed Vanuatu, and in the process, the very edges of it actually thcueod our two southernmost islands, and all of Tuvalu was underwater when Hurricane Pam srutck. But for our two southernmost islands, we had waves come over half the island, and so this has never happened before. It's a new experience. And I've just come back from my own constituency, and I've seen these beautiful trees which had been there for decades, they've been totally destroyed. So this is what's happening, but when we talk about the rising sea level, we think it's something that happens gradually. It comes with the widns, it comes with the swells, and so they can be magnified, but what we are beginning to witness is the change in the weather ptertan, which is perhaps the more urgent challenge that we will face soeonr than perhaps the rising sea level.

Open Cloze


CA: And then, I think the _______ suffered its first _______, and this is connected, yes? What happened here?

AT: Well, we're on the equator, and I'm sure many of you understand that when you're on the equator, it's supposed to be in the ________. We're not supposed to get the cyclones. We create them, and then we send them either north or _____.

(Laughter)

But they aren't ________ to come back. But for the first time, at the beginning of this year, the Cyclone Pam, which destroyed Vanuatu, and in the process, the very edges of it actually _______ our two southernmost islands, and all of Tuvalu was underwater when Hurricane Pam ______. But for our two southernmost islands, we had waves come over half the island, and so this has never happened before. It's a new experience. And I've just come back from my own constituency, and I've seen these beautiful trees which had been there for decades, they've been totally destroyed. So this is what's happening, but when we talk about the rising sea level, we think it's something that happens gradually. It comes with the _____, it comes with the swells, and so they can be magnified, but what we are beginning to witness is the change in the weather _______, which is perhaps the more urgent challenge that we will face ______ than perhaps the rising sea level.

Solution


  1. cyclone
  2. touched
  3. winds
  4. struck
  5. supposed
  6. doldrums
  7. country
  8. south
  9. pattern
  10. sooner

Original Text


CA: And then, I think the country suffered its first cyclone, and this is connected, yes? What happened here?

AT: Well, we're on the equator, and I'm sure many of you understand that when you're on the equator, it's supposed to be in the doldrums. We're not supposed to get the cyclones. We create them, and then we send them either north or south.

(Laughter)

But they aren't supposed to come back. But for the first time, at the beginning of this year, the Cyclone Pam, which destroyed Vanuatu, and in the process, the very edges of it actually touched our two southernmost islands, and all of Tuvalu was underwater when Hurricane Pam struck. But for our two southernmost islands, we had waves come over half the island, and so this has never happened before. It's a new experience. And I've just come back from my own constituency, and I've seen these beautiful trees which had been there for decades, they've been totally destroyed. So this is what's happening, but when we talk about the rising sea level, we think it's something that happens gradually. It comes with the winds, it comes with the swells, and so they can be magnified, but what we are beginning to witness is the change in the weather pattern, which is perhaps the more urgent challenge that we will face sooner than perhaps the rising sea level.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sea level 5
climate change 5
phoenix islands 3
united nations 3
rising sea 2
floating islands 2
forced migration 2
difficult decision 2
license fees 2
international community 2
commercial fishing 2
vessel day 2
catch yellowfin 2


Important Words


  1. beautiful
  2. beginning
  3. challenge
  4. change
  5. connected
  6. constituency
  7. country
  8. create
  9. cyclone
  10. cyclones
  11. decades
  12. destroyed
  13. doldrums
  14. edges
  15. equator
  16. experience
  17. face
  18. gradually
  19. happened
  20. happening
  21. hurricane
  22. island
  23. islands
  24. laughter
  25. level
  26. magnified
  27. north
  28. pam
  29. pattern
  30. process
  31. rising
  32. sea
  33. send
  34. sooner
  35. south
  36. southernmost
  37. struck
  38. suffered
  39. supposed
  40. swells
  41. talk
  42. time
  43. totally
  44. touched
  45. trees
  46. tuvalu
  47. understand
  48. underwater
  49. urgent
  50. vanuatu
  51. waves
  52. weather
  53. winds
  54. witness
  55. year