full transcript

From the Ted Talk by TED-Ed: The Maya myth of the morning star

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Chak Ek’ rose from the uwndleorrd to the surface of the eeatsrn sea and on into the heavens. His brother K’in Ahaw followed. Though Chak Ek’ had risen first, K’in Ahaw ohuotnse him, and the resentful Chak Ek’ descended back to the underworld to plot against his brother.

In maayn mythology, Chak Ek’ represents Venus and K’in Ahaw represents the sun. Known as both the morning and the evening star, vuens moves through the sky, sometimes visible before sunrise, sometimes after sunset, and ooncailslcay not at all. The ancient Maya identified this roughly 584 day cycle more than a thousand years ago and it still accurately predicts when and where Venus will appear in the sky around the world. Five of these cycles make up almost exactly eight years, and the Maya also recognized this larger cclye. They asgneisd Chak Ek’ five different forms, one for each cycle of Venus, that were rpaeeted every eight years.

Open Cloze


Chak Ek’ rose from the __________ to the surface of the _______ sea and on into the heavens. His brother K’in Ahaw followed. Though Chak Ek’ had risen first, K’in Ahaw ________ him, and the resentful Chak Ek’ descended back to the underworld to plot against his brother.

In _____ mythology, Chak Ek’ represents Venus and K’in Ahaw represents the sun. Known as both the morning and the evening star, _____ moves through the sky, sometimes visible before sunrise, sometimes after sunset, and ____________ not at all. The ancient Maya identified this roughly 584 day cycle more than a thousand years ago and it still accurately predicts when and where Venus will appear in the sky around the world. Five of these cycles make up almost exactly eight years, and the Maya also recognized this larger _____. They ________ Chak Ek’ five different forms, one for each cycle of Venus, that were ________ every eight years.

Solution


  1. outshone
  2. underworld
  3. eastern
  4. cycle
  5. occasionally
  6. assigned
  7. mayan
  8. venus
  9. repeated

Original Text


Chak Ek’ rose from the underworld to the surface of the eastern sea and on into the heavens. His brother K’in Ahaw followed. Though Chak Ek’ had risen first, K’in Ahaw outshone him, and the resentful Chak Ek’ descended back to the underworld to plot against his brother.

In Mayan mythology, Chak Ek’ represents Venus and K’in Ahaw represents the sun. Known as both the morning and the evening star, Venus moves through the sky, sometimes visible before sunrise, sometimes after sunset, and occasionally not at all. The ancient Maya identified this roughly 584 day cycle more than a thousand years ago and it still accurately predicts when and where Venus will appear in the sky around the world. Five of these cycles make up almost exactly eight years, and the Maya also recognized this larger cycle. They assigned Chak Ek’ five different forms, one for each cycle of Venus, that were repeated every eight years.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ancient maya 2
morning star 2
dry season 2
order established 2


Important Words


  1. accurately
  2. ahaw
  3. ancient
  4. assigned
  5. brother
  6. chak
  7. cycle
  8. cycles
  9. day
  10. descended
  11. eastern
  12. evening
  13. forms
  14. heavens
  15. identified
  16. larger
  17. maya
  18. mayan
  19. morning
  20. moves
  21. mythology
  22. occasionally
  23. outshone
  24. plot
  25. predicts
  26. recognized
  27. repeated
  28. represents
  29. resentful
  30. risen
  31. rose
  32. roughly
  33. sea
  34. sky
  35. star
  36. sun
  37. sunrise
  38. sunset
  39. surface
  40. thousand
  41. underworld
  42. venus
  43. visible
  44. world
  45. years