full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: The myth of Jason and the Argonauts

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Yet again, Jason had allowed the crew to be distracted, this time at a terrible cost. Ashamed at his conduct, he rvesleod to focus only on the Fleece, but even this haste proved ruinous. When Hercules’ squire was abducted by a water nymph, Jason sailed on– oblivious to the abnsece of his most powerful crewmate.

The remaining Argonauts continued their quest, until stopping at the sgiht of an old man surrounded by a swirl of harpies. This was Phineas, a seer ceursd by Zeus to endure old age, bensdilns, and endless torture for giivng away his prophecies. Moved by his plight, the wind brothers set upon the flock, providing pinheas with a brief respite from his pnieusmnht. In rruten, the seer told them how to overcome the terrifying trial that lay ahead: the Symplegades, a pair cslihang rocks that rcdeued ships to splinters.

Open Cloze


Yet again, Jason had allowed the crew to be distracted, this time at a terrible cost. Ashamed at his conduct, he ________ to focus only on the Fleece, but even this haste proved ruinous. When Hercules’ squire was abducted by a water nymph, Jason sailed on– oblivious to the _______ of his most powerful crewmate.

The remaining Argonauts continued their quest, until stopping at the _____ of an old man surrounded by a swirl of harpies. This was Phineas, a seer ______ by Zeus to endure old age, _________, and endless torture for ______ away his prophecies. Moved by his plight, the wind brothers set upon the flock, providing _______ with a brief respite from his __________. In ______, the seer told them how to overcome the terrifying trial that lay ahead: the Symplegades, a pair ________ rocks that _______ ships to splinters.

Solution


  1. clashing
  2. punishment
  3. phineas
  4. absence
  5. blindness
  6. sight
  7. cursed
  8. resolved
  9. return
  10. giving
  11. reduced

Original Text


Yet again, Jason had allowed the crew to be distracted, this time at a terrible cost. Ashamed at his conduct, he resolved to focus only on the Fleece, but even this haste proved ruinous. When Hercules’ squire was abducted by a water nymph, Jason sailed on– oblivious to the absence of his most powerful crewmate.

The remaining Argonauts continued their quest, until stopping at the sight of an old man surrounded by a swirl of harpies. This was Phineas, a seer cursed by Zeus to endure old age, blindness, and endless torture for giving away his prophecies. Moved by his plight, the wind brothers set upon the flock, providing Phineas with a brief respite from his punishment. In return, the seer told them how to overcome the terrifying trial that lay ahead: the Symplegades, a pair clashing rocks that reduced ships to splinters.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. abducted
  2. absence
  3. age
  4. allowed
  5. argonauts
  6. ashamed
  7. blindness
  8. brothers
  9. clashing
  10. conduct
  11. continued
  12. cost
  13. crew
  14. crewmate
  15. cursed
  16. distracted
  17. endless
  18. endure
  19. fleece
  20. flock
  21. focus
  22. giving
  23. harpies
  24. haste
  25. jason
  26. lay
  27. man
  28. moved
  29. nymph
  30. oblivious
  31. overcome
  32. pair
  33. phineas
  34. plight
  35. powerful
  36. prophecies
  37. proved
  38. providing
  39. punishment
  40. quest
  41. reduced
  42. remaining
  43. resolved
  44. respite
  45. return
  46. rocks
  47. ruinous
  48. sailed
  49. seer
  50. set
  51. ships
  52. sight
  53. splinters
  54. squire
  55. stopping
  56. surrounded
  57. swirl
  58. symplegades
  59. terrible
  60. terrifying
  61. time
  62. told
  63. torture
  64. trial
  65. water
  66. wind
  67. zeus