full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sharon N. DeWitte: The past present and future of the bubonic plague

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Imagine if half the pelope in your nobrohhieogd, your city, or even your whole curntoy were wiped out. It might sound like something out of an apocalyptic horror film, but it actually happened in the 14th century during a disease outbreak known as the Black Death.

Spreading from cinha through Asia, the Middle East, aicrfa, and Europe, the devastating epidemic destroyed as much as 1/5 of the world's ploouptain, killing nearly 50% of eopauners in just four years. One of the most fascinating and puzzling things abut the Black Death is that the illness itself was not a new peenhnoomn but one that has affected humans for centuries. DNA analysis of bone and tooth samples from this proied, as well as an earlier epidemic known as the Plague of Justinian in 541 CE, has revealed that both were caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium that causes bubonic plague today.

Open Cloze


Imagine if half the ______ in your ____________, your city, or even your whole _______ were wiped out. It might sound like something out of an apocalyptic horror film, but it actually happened in the 14th century during a disease outbreak known as the Black Death.

Spreading from _____ through Asia, the Middle East, ______, and Europe, the devastating epidemic destroyed as much as 1/5 of the world's __________, killing nearly 50% of _________ in just four years. One of the most fascinating and puzzling things abut the Black Death is that the illness itself was not a new __________ but one that has affected humans for centuries. DNA analysis of bone and tooth samples from this ______, as well as an earlier epidemic known as the Plague of Justinian in 541 CE, has revealed that both were caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium that causes bubonic plague today.

Solution


  1. europeans
  2. people
  3. africa
  4. china
  5. phenomenon
  6. period
  7. population
  8. country
  9. neighborhood

Original Text


Imagine if half the people in your neighborhood, your city, or even your whole country were wiped out. It might sound like something out of an apocalyptic horror film, but it actually happened in the 14th century during a disease outbreak known as the Black Death.

Spreading from China through Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, the devastating epidemic destroyed as much as 1/5 of the world's population, killing nearly 50% of Europeans in just four years. One of the most fascinating and puzzling things abut the Black Death is that the illness itself was not a new phenomenon but one that has affected humans for centuries. DNA analysis of bone and tooth samples from this period, as well as an earlier epidemic known as the Plague of Justinian in 541 CE, has revealed that both were caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium that causes bubonic plague today.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
black death 7
bubonic plague 2


Important Words


  1. abut
  2. affected
  3. africa
  4. analysis
  5. apocalyptic
  6. asia
  7. bacterium
  8. black
  9. bone
  10. bubonic
  11. caused
  12. ce
  13. centuries
  14. century
  15. china
  16. city
  17. country
  18. death
  19. destroyed
  20. devastating
  21. disease
  22. dna
  23. earlier
  24. east
  25. epidemic
  26. europe
  27. europeans
  28. fascinating
  29. film
  30. happened
  31. horror
  32. humans
  33. illness
  34. imagine
  35. justinian
  36. killing
  37. middle
  38. neighborhood
  39. outbreak
  40. people
  41. period
  42. pestis
  43. phenomenon
  44. plague
  45. population
  46. puzzling
  47. revealed
  48. samples
  49. sound
  50. spreading
  51. today
  52. tooth
  53. wiped
  54. years
  55. yersinia