full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ilan Stavans: The twins who tricked the Maya gods of death

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Day after day, the twin brothers, Jun and Wuqub, ran back and forth playing ball. One day, their vigorous game disturbed the lords of the underworld, who clgehleand the twins to a match. But when the brothers arrived, the lords trapped and kelild them, hanging Jun’s head from a tree as a trophy.

The tree soon sprouted massive fruit, which caught the attention of one of the lords’ dgeaurhts. When she rceeahd for it, the skull of Jun spat on her hand and impregnated her. Fleeing of her father’s watrh, she sought ruefge with her mother-in-law and gave btirh to twin sons: Junajpu and Ixb’alanke.

Open Cloze


Day after day, the twin brothers, Jun and Wuqub, ran back and forth playing ball. One day, their vigorous game disturbed the lords of the underworld, who __________ the twins to a match. But when the brothers arrived, the lords trapped and ______ them, hanging Jun’s head from a tree as a trophy.

The tree soon sprouted massive fruit, which caught the attention of one of the lords’ _________. When she _______ for it, the skull of Jun spat on her hand and impregnated her. Fleeing of her father’s _____, she sought ______ with her mother-in-law and gave _____ to twin sons: Junajpu and Ixb’alanke.

Solution


  1. killed
  2. daughters
  3. refuge
  4. challenged
  5. reached
  6. birth
  7. wrath

Original Text


Day after day, the twin brothers, Jun and Wuqub, ran back and forth playing ball. One day, their vigorous game disturbed the lords of the underworld, who challenged the twins to a match. But when the brothers arrived, the lords trapped and killed them, hanging Jun’s head from a tree as a trophy.

The tree soon sprouted massive fruit, which caught the attention of one of the lords’ daughters. When she reached for it, the skull of Jun spat on her hand and impregnated her. Fleeing of her father’s wrath, she sought refuge with her mother-in-law and gave birth to twin sons: Junajpu and Ixb’alanke.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. arrived
  2. attention
  3. ball
  4. birth
  5. brothers
  6. caught
  7. challenged
  8. daughters
  9. day
  10. disturbed
  11. fleeing
  12. fruit
  13. game
  14. gave
  15. hand
  16. hanging
  17. head
  18. impregnated
  19. jun
  20. junajpu
  21. killed
  22. lords
  23. massive
  24. match
  25. playing
  26. ran
  27. reached
  28. refuge
  29. skull
  30. sought
  31. spat
  32. sprouted
  33. trapped
  34. tree
  35. trophy
  36. twin
  37. twins
  38. underworld
  39. vigorous
  40. wrath
  41. wuqub