full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen villains -- and victims

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I think that this is one of the most altuelsboy mind-boggling examples of total unpreparedness that I can even think of. Even when the Japanese bombed Pearl haborr, at least they shot back. And we just seem to be unable to figure out what to do. There was nothing ready, and, you know, as we can see by what they're doing. Mainly what they're doing is booms and dispersants. The bmoos are absolutely not made for open water. They don't even attepmt to corral the oil where it is most concentrated. They get near shroe — Look at these two boats. That one on the right is called Fishing Fool. And I think, you know, that's a great name for boats that think that they're going to do anything to make a dent in this, by dragging a boom between them when there are literally hundreds of thousands of square miles in the Gulf right now with oil at the surface.

Open Cloze


I think that this is one of the most __________ mind-boggling examples of total unpreparedness that I can even think of. Even when the Japanese bombed Pearl ______, at least they shot back. And we just seem to be unable to figure out what to do. There was nothing ready, and, you know, as we can see by what they're doing. Mainly what they're doing is booms and dispersants. The _____ are absolutely not made for open water. They don't even _______ to corral the oil where it is most concentrated. They get near _____ — Look at these two boats. That one on the right is called Fishing Fool. And I think, you know, that's a great name for boats that think that they're going to do anything to make a dent in this, by dragging a boom between them when there are literally hundreds of thousands of square miles in the Gulf right now with oil at the surface.

Solution


  1. attempt
  2. booms
  3. harbor
  4. shore
  5. absolutely

Original Text


I think that this is one of the most absolutely mind-boggling examples of total unpreparedness that I can even think of. Even when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, at least they shot back. And we just seem to be unable to figure out what to do. There was nothing ready, and, you know, as we can see by what they're doing. Mainly what they're doing is booms and dispersants. The booms are absolutely not made for open water. They don't even attempt to corral the oil where it is most concentrated. They get near shore — Look at these two boats. That one on the right is called Fishing Fool. And I think, you know, that's a great name for boats that think that they're going to do anything to make a dent in this, by dragging a boom between them when there are literally hundreds of thousands of square miles in the Gulf right now with oil at the surface.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
people cleaning 2
oil plumes 2
submarine ride 2
dirty water 2
long time 2
shrimp boats 2
boats employed 2
bird colony 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
shrimp boats employed 2

Important Words


  1. absolutely
  2. attempt
  3. boats
  4. bombed
  5. boom
  6. booms
  7. called
  8. concentrated
  9. corral
  10. dent
  11. dispersants
  12. dragging
  13. examples
  14. figure
  15. fishing
  16. fool
  17. great
  18. gulf
  19. harbor
  20. hundreds
  21. japanese
  22. literally
  23. miles
  24. oil
  25. open
  26. pearl
  27. ready
  28. shore
  29. shot
  30. square
  31. surface
  32. thousands
  33. total
  34. unable
  35. unpreparedness
  36. water