full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Graeme Anderson: The most lightning-struck place on Earth

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The epic poem "La Dragontea" describes how English explorer Sir Francis dakre sailed across the Gulf of Venezuela in 1595. He was aiinmg for the naebry Lake Maracaibo, home to a colony of sapinsh settlers he planned to overthrow. But as Drake moved towards the mouth of the lake under cover of darkness, his plot was suddenly and magnificently foiled. Huge fheasls of lightning inmlualeitd the landscape, exposing the feelt as if it were daytime, which warned the Spanish about his appocarh.

Lake Maracaibo is the stormiest place on the planet. The massive body of water at over 13,000 square kilometers is a place of almost perpetual storming. thnrrudeostms rage above it for up to 200 days of the year, each earsplitting event liasntg for several hours. Like everywhere else on Earth, lightning at Lake Maracaibo is the result of opposing electrical charges that steadily build up inside storm culods. Once there's a large enough dfncrefiee between charges either within the cloud or between the clouds and the Earth below, it forms a saprk that becomes a lightning bolt.

Open Cloze


The epic poem "La Dragontea" describes how English explorer Sir Francis _____ sailed across the Gulf of Venezuela in 1595. He was ______ for the ______ Lake Maracaibo, home to a colony of _______ settlers he planned to overthrow. But as Drake moved towards the mouth of the lake under cover of darkness, his plot was suddenly and magnificently foiled. Huge _______ of lightning ___________ the landscape, exposing the _____ as if it were daytime, which warned the Spanish about his ________.

Lake Maracaibo is the stormiest place on the planet. The massive body of water at over 13,000 square kilometers is a place of almost perpetual storming. _____________ rage above it for up to 200 days of the year, each earsplitting event _______ for several hours. Like everywhere else on Earth, lightning at Lake Maracaibo is the result of opposing electrical charges that steadily build up inside storm ______. Once there's a large enough __________ between charges either within the cloud or between the clouds and the Earth below, it forms a _____ that becomes a lightning bolt.

Solution


  1. spark
  2. flashes
  3. nearby
  4. drake
  5. fleet
  6. clouds
  7. thunderstorms
  8. spanish
  9. approach
  10. illuminated
  11. difference
  12. lasting
  13. aiming

Original Text


The epic poem "La Dragontea" describes how English explorer Sir Francis Drake sailed across the Gulf of Venezuela in 1595. He was aiming for the nearby Lake Maracaibo, home to a colony of Spanish settlers he planned to overthrow. But as Drake moved towards the mouth of the lake under cover of darkness, his plot was suddenly and magnificently foiled. Huge flashes of lightning illuminated the landscape, exposing the fleet as if it were daytime, which warned the Spanish about his approach.

Lake Maracaibo is the stormiest place on the planet. The massive body of water at over 13,000 square kilometers is a place of almost perpetual storming. Thunderstorms rage above it for up to 200 days of the year, each earsplitting event lasting for several hours. Like everywhere else on Earth, lightning at Lake Maracaibo is the result of opposing electrical charges that steadily build up inside storm clouds. Once there's a large enough difference between charges either within the cloud or between the clouds and the Earth below, it forms a spark that becomes a lightning bolt.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
lake maracaibo 3
lightning strikes 3
sir francis 2
francis drake 2
square kilometers 2
storm clouds 2
square kilometer 2
lightning density 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
sir francis drake 2

Important Words


  1. aiming
  2. approach
  3. body
  4. bolt
  5. build
  6. charges
  7. cloud
  8. clouds
  9. colony
  10. cover
  11. darkness
  12. days
  13. daytime
  14. describes
  15. difference
  16. drake
  17. earsplitting
  18. earth
  19. electrical
  20. english
  21. epic
  22. event
  23. explorer
  24. exposing
  25. flashes
  26. fleet
  27. foiled
  28. forms
  29. francis
  30. gulf
  31. home
  32. hours
  33. huge
  34. illuminated
  35. kilometers
  36. lake
  37. landscape
  38. large
  39. lasting
  40. lightning
  41. magnificently
  42. maracaibo
  43. massive
  44. mouth
  45. moved
  46. nearby
  47. opposing
  48. overthrow
  49. perpetual
  50. place
  51. planet
  52. planned
  53. plot
  54. poem
  55. rage
  56. result
  57. sailed
  58. settlers
  59. sir
  60. spanish
  61. spark
  62. square
  63. steadily
  64. storm
  65. stormiest
  66. storming
  67. suddenly
  68. thunderstorms
  69. venezuela
  70. warned
  71. water
  72. year