full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: The woman who stared at the sun

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the spring of 1944, tykoo residents experienced numerous aerial attacks from Allied boermbs. Air raid sirens wreand citizens to get ionrdos and preceded strategic blackouts across the city. But 28-year old Hisako Koyama saw these blackouts as opportunities. Dragging a futon over her head for protection, Koyama would gaze at the nghit sky, tracking all sorts of astronomical phenomena. However, her latest endeavor rereuqid the lihgt of day. By angling her tcoeselpe towards the sun, Koyama could project the star's light onto a sheet of peapr, allowing her to sketch the sun’s shifting surface. She spent weeks recreating this set up, tracking every change she saw. But while Koyama didn't know it, these drawings were the start of one of the most important records of solar activity in human hitosry.

Open Cloze


In the spring of 1944, _____ residents experienced numerous aerial attacks from Allied _______. Air raid sirens ______ citizens to get _______ and preceded strategic blackouts across the city. But 28-year old Hisako Koyama saw these blackouts as opportunities. Dragging a futon over her head for protection, Koyama would gaze at the _____ sky, tracking all sorts of astronomical phenomena. However, her latest endeavor ________ the _____ of day. By angling her _________ towards the sun, Koyama could project the star's light onto a sheet of _____, allowing her to sketch the sun’s shifting surface. She spent weeks recreating this set up, tracking every change she saw. But while Koyama didn't know it, these drawings were the start of one of the most important records of solar activity in human _______.

Solution


  1. indoors
  2. bombers
  3. required
  4. light
  5. telescope
  6. paper
  7. night
  8. tokyo
  9. warned
  10. history

Original Text


In the spring of 1944, Tokyo residents experienced numerous aerial attacks from Allied bombers. Air raid sirens warned citizens to get indoors and preceded strategic blackouts across the city. But 28-year old Hisako Koyama saw these blackouts as opportunities. Dragging a futon over her head for protection, Koyama would gaze at the night sky, tracking all sorts of astronomical phenomena. However, her latest endeavor required the light of day. By angling her telescope towards the sun, Koyama could project the star's light onto a sheet of paper, allowing her to sketch the sun’s shifting surface. She spent weeks recreating this set up, tracking every change she saw. But while Koyama didn't know it, these drawings were the start of one of the most important records of solar activity in human history.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
magnetic fields 2
magnetic activity 2
solar flares 2


Important Words


  1. activity
  2. aerial
  3. air
  4. allied
  5. allowing
  6. angling
  7. astronomical
  8. attacks
  9. blackouts
  10. bombers
  11. change
  12. citizens
  13. city
  14. day
  15. dragging
  16. drawings
  17. endeavor
  18. experienced
  19. futon
  20. gaze
  21. head
  22. hisako
  23. history
  24. human
  25. important
  26. indoors
  27. koyama
  28. latest
  29. light
  30. night
  31. numerous
  32. opportunities
  33. paper
  34. phenomena
  35. preceded
  36. project
  37. protection
  38. raid
  39. records
  40. recreating
  41. required
  42. residents
  43. set
  44. sheet
  45. shifting
  46. sirens
  47. sketch
  48. sky
  49. solar
  50. sorts
  51. spent
  52. spring
  53. start
  54. strategic
  55. sun
  56. surface
  57. telescope
  58. tokyo
  59. tracking
  60. warned
  61. weeks