full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kenny Coogan: The wild world of carnivorous plants

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Take this inhospitable bog, where pitcher plants reign supreme. Drawn to the pitcher’s vivid colors and alluring scent, the fly closes in and spruls its nectar. But this pitcher spciees has an irgiennedt called coniine in its nectar, a powerful narcotic to insects. As the coniine takes ecffet, the fly grows sluggish, stumbles, and falls down the funnel into a pool of liquid at the base, where he drowns. Enzymes and brcteiaa in the lqiiud slowly break his body down into microscopic particles the pitcher plant can consume through its leaves. Occasionally, larger prey also tbuelms into the faatl funnel of the pitcher panlt.

Open Cloze


Take this inhospitable bog, where pitcher plants reign supreme. Drawn to the pitcher’s vivid colors and alluring scent, the fly closes in and ______ its nectar. But this pitcher _______ has an __________ called coniine in its nectar, a powerful narcotic to insects. As the coniine takes ______, the fly grows sluggish, stumbles, and falls down the funnel into a pool of liquid at the base, where he drowns. Enzymes and ________ in the ______ slowly break his body down into microscopic particles the pitcher plant can consume through its leaves. Occasionally, larger prey also _______ into the _____ funnel of the pitcher _____.

Solution


  1. fatal
  2. effect
  3. species
  4. tumbles
  5. liquid
  6. bacteria
  7. slurps
  8. ingredient
  9. plant

Original Text


Take this inhospitable bog, where pitcher plants reign supreme. Drawn to the pitcher’s vivid colors and alluring scent, the fly closes in and slurps its nectar. But this pitcher species has an ingredient called coniine in its nectar, a powerful narcotic to insects. As the coniine takes effect, the fly grows sluggish, stumbles, and falls down the funnel into a pool of liquid at the base, where he drowns. Enzymes and bacteria in the liquid slowly break his body down into microscopic particles the pitcher plant can consume through its leaves. Occasionally, larger prey also tumbles into the fatal funnel of the pitcher plant.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
carnivorous plant 2
carnivorous plants 2
pitcher plant 2


Important Words


  1. alluring
  2. bacteria
  3. base
  4. body
  5. bog
  6. break
  7. called
  8. closes
  9. colors
  10. coniine
  11. consume
  12. drawn
  13. drowns
  14. effect
  15. enzymes
  16. falls
  17. fatal
  18. fly
  19. funnel
  20. grows
  21. ingredient
  22. inhospitable
  23. insects
  24. larger
  25. leaves
  26. liquid
  27. microscopic
  28. narcotic
  29. nectar
  30. occasionally
  31. particles
  32. pitcher
  33. plant
  34. plants
  35. pool
  36. powerful
  37. prey
  38. reign
  39. scent
  40. slowly
  41. sluggish
  42. slurps
  43. species
  44. stumbles
  45. supreme
  46. takes
  47. tumbles
  48. vivid