full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Zeresenay Alemseged: The search for humanity's roots

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So, I think the most important question at the end is, what do we actually learn from specimens like this and from our past in gnearel? Of course, in addition to extracting this huge amount of scientific information as to what makes us human, you know, the many human anetrocss that have existed over the past six million yares — and there are more than 10 — they did not have the knowledge, the technology and sophistications that we, Homo sinaeps, have today. But if this seipecs, ancient species, would travel in time and see us tadoy, they would very much be very proud of their legacy, because they became the ancestors of the most successful species in the universe. And they were probably not aware of this future legacy, but they did great. Now the question is, we Homo sapiens today are in a position to decide about the future of our planet, possibly more. So the question is, are we up to the canlhgele? And can we really do better than these primitive, small-brained ancestors?

Open Cloze


So, I think the most important question at the end is, what do we actually learn from specimens like this and from our past in _______? Of course, in addition to extracting this huge amount of scientific information as to what makes us human, you know, the many human _________ that have existed over the past six million _____ — and there are more than 10 — they did not have the knowledge, the technology and sophistications that we, Homo _______, have today. But if this _______, ancient species, would travel in time and see us _____, they would very much be very proud of their legacy, because they became the ancestors of the most successful species in the universe. And they were probably not aware of this future legacy, but they did great. Now the question is, we Homo sapiens today are in a position to decide about the future of our planet, possibly more. So the question is, are we up to the _________? And can we really do better than these primitive, small-brained ancestors?

Solution


  1. species
  2. years
  3. today
  4. general
  5. sapiens
  6. challenge
  7. ancestors

Original Text


So, I think the most important question at the end is, what do we actually learn from specimens like this and from our past in general? Of course, in addition to extracting this huge amount of scientific information as to what makes us human, you know, the many human ancestors that have existed over the past six million years — and there are more than 10 — they did not have the knowledge, the technology and sophistications that we, Homo sapiens, have today. But if this species, ancient species, would travel in time and see us today, they would very much be very proud of their legacy, because they became the ancestors of the most successful species in the universe. And they were probably not aware of this future legacy, but they did great. Now the question is, we Homo sapiens today are in a position to decide about the future of our planet, possibly more. So the question is, are we up to the challenge? And can we really do better than these primitive, small-brained ancestors?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
million years 9
upright walking 2
australopithecus afarensis 2
dna analysis 2
big question 2
extinct game 2
game park 2
homo sapiens 2
scientific information 2
baby teeth 2
positive african 2
african attitude 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
extinct game park 2
positive african attitude 2

Important Words


  1. addition
  2. amount
  3. ancestors
  4. ancient
  5. aware
  6. challenge
  7. decide
  8. existed
  9. extracting
  10. future
  11. general
  12. great
  13. homo
  14. huge
  15. human
  16. important
  17. information
  18. knowledge
  19. learn
  20. legacy
  21. million
  22. planet
  23. position
  24. possibly
  25. primitive
  26. proud
  27. question
  28. sapiens
  29. scientific
  30. sophistications
  31. species
  32. specimens
  33. successful
  34. technology
  35. time
  36. today
  37. travel
  38. universe
  39. years